Many disabled people on Employment and Support Allowance only get £74 a week to live off - even though their costs have risen massively during the pandemic. THREAD dpac.uk.net/2021/03/20more…@Dis_PPL_Protest#20More4All
We @Dis_PPL_Protest and @Z2K_trust say all legacy benefits like Employment and Support Allowance need to be increased by £20 a week.
A survey of disabled people on legacy benefits conducted by the Disability Benefits Consortium found that two thirds have had to go without essentials like food, heating or medication as a result of increased costs since the pandemic started. mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…
Nearly half (44%) said they had fallen behind on financial commitments like rent, mortgage payments, or household bills. #20More4All
Additional financial support would make an enormous difference to disabled people’s lives. Our members gave us examples of what it would mean to them if the £20 uplift was applied to legacy benefits...
“£100 taxi fares for transport to hospital for appointments and surgery because patient transport which I normally use is not running for cancer/dialysis. No money left for food.” @Dis_PPL_Protestdpac.uk.net/2021/02/email-…
“Being clinically extremely vulnerable- I’m supposed to shield at home- this has led to increased shopping costs as I have to fill to a minimum basket requirement or face a penalty, and have to pay delivery costs on top.” @Dis_PPL_Protest
Heart-breaking testimony from @Dis_PPL_Protest members about what the £20 a week legacy benefit uplift would mean:
a) “On chemo...need to eat properly”.
b) “Could put the heating on earlier and not suffer the arthritis pain I am because I only put the heating on after 6pm”
c) “We don’t have a washing machine – I’d like to get one but can’t afford one at the moment. £20 extra a week may help me to save quicker to buy one – given that I had a colostomy over Xmas this is now more of a necessity!” - @Dis_PPL_Protest member
d) "It would help me look after my child and meet the additional costs brought by the pandemic, such as extra heating, food and schooling costs, such as ink and paper.” - @Dis_PPL_Protest member #20More4All
The Department for Work and Pensions has said there is no need to apply the uplift to legacy claimants because benefits will be increased by 37p per week in April 2021.
(37p is not a typo)
The 37p increase is designed to reflect higher costs of living due to inflation, not the pandemic. It represents a mere 0.5% increase - not enough to buy a single protective mask.
Social care is not free for disabled people. Many people pay as much as £100 a week towards social care and are left with very little money for other needs. THREAD 👇
Government give some disabled people money to meet extra costs of being disabled in Personal Independence Payments but now local councils are taking that to pay for care. # EndTaxOnBeingDisabled
Care should be free at the point of need for disabled people and those with a long term health condition.
Disabled People Against Cuts are calling for an end to the postcode lottery in social care with a national social care system 👇 (@Dis_PPL_Protest ) rofa.org.uk/nilss_project/
What's the difference between social care and independent living? vimeo.com/425065010
Why do we need a legal right to independent living and a national independent living support service? (Disabled People Against Cuts) vimeo.com/425069614
In this thread @Dis_PPL_Protest will be sharing the terrible impact of Covid on disabled people.
People with a learning disability made up 6 in 100 (5.8%) of all deaths involving coronavirus for the period to 20 November 2020. ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulati…
Rates of death involving COVID-19 for disabled men were between 1.9 and 3.1 times greater than for non-disabled men.
Rates of death involving COVID-19 for disabled women were between 2.0 and 3.5 times greater than for non-disabled women. @Dis_PPL_Protest
One in five disabled employees had their request to work from home, be furloughed or redeployed during the pandemic rejected. bbc.co.uk/news/disabilit…
📣Good morning! It's Disabled People Against Cuts @Dis_PPL_Protest taking over Jo's account.
We are group of disabled people and allies.
We welcome all to join us fighting for justice and human rights for all disabled people. Here's a bit more about us: dpac.uk.net/join-dpac/
We are UK based but know disabled people in other countries suffer from austerity and a lack of fundamental rights.
Disabled people must not be the scapegoats for the mistakes of governments.
We will not tolerate a further erosion of our living conditions or our human rights, nor will we sit quietly while they try to take our rights away. #RightsNotCharity@Dis_PPL_Protest
Responding to @TransparencyUK's report that about a fifth of the £18bn of covid contracts had the potential to involve fraud or corruption, a Government spokeswoman said this (thetimes.co.uk/article/fifth-…):
Her line - that the VIP lane was widely advertised across Government as a way of triaging offers of support - was also used by Lord Bethell.
We have just asked the High Court for details of those advertisements. And Counsel for the Secretary of State for Health has said (and I quote): "I am not sure how far that is intended to be a description of what actually happened.”
This 'It's Cummings wot did it' stuff takes quite a bit of swallowing. How do you have access to your old bosses' old texts? Still not convinced he has actually left Downing Street...
(And if there's anyone who believes the crap unnamed sources spin to the right wing press I have some fine PPE to sell you.)
A few (circumstantial) facts... in our Public First case Cummings and Cain both gave unsigned witness statements - we pushed for signed versions and Cummings came back with one very late. Cain didn't and they had to pull his evidence. Cain has emerged with a new job and...