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Tweet to defeat. New PIP will fail people with mental health problems
Posted Monday 16 January 2012
We urgently need your help to overturn some very damaging parts of the Government’s Welfare Reform Bill.
If there’s one thing you do today, please tweet the Peers in the House of Lords and ask them to support the changes we’re calling for.
The Government is planning to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) with the new Personal Independence Payment (PIP). We have serious concerns about the impact this may have on people with mental health problems.
However, tomorrow the House of Lords will debate the proposed introduction of the PIP. This is our chance to ask the Peers to create a system that is fair and supportive, and achieve a victory similar to last week’s Employment and Support Allowance defeat.
We are against:
- Making ill people wait six months from when their condition starts before they can access the benefit. We do not believe it is fair to let people struggle for six months without financial support when they are very ill. (Update: the Government has agreed to this request - see breaking news at the bottom of this page)
- Bringing in a new assessment for PIP without properly trialling it. We know all too well from the experience of the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) that any major change to a benefit will come with lots of problems. Let’s get the system working properly before we subject millions of people to a stressful assessment.
- Using assessors without expertise in mental health to decide whether people with mental health problems need support from the new PIP benefit. The WCA has shown that non-specialist assessors often don't understand how mental health problems can impact on people's lives.
Last week, we finally started to make progress on changing some of the most worrying parts of the Welfare Reform Bill. The Government has been remarkably resistant to accepting any amendments to the Bill, despite warnings from disability charities and disabled people about the potentially grave consequences of some of the proposed measures.
Last Wednesday, however, Peers in the House of Lords forced a number of changes to the Bill concerning people claiming Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). Most importantly for people with mental health problems, they voted to extend the period of time that people can claim ESA from one year to two.
These adjustments only serve to rein in the worst excesses of the Bill, rather than heralding a shift towards a system that properly understands and supports people with mental health problems.
But the votes represent a significant victory for those of us campaigning for fairer reform (as the Government has refused to respond to our concerns and understand the consequences of the legislation).
This success also gives us hope that we can move on to make further improvements to the Bill. At the top of our list of targets are the reforms to Disability Living Allowance (DLA) which are due to be debated in the House of Lords on Tuesday.
The victories on ESA last week came about as a result of disability charities, disabled people, online campaigners and well informed Peers coming together to call for fairness in the Government's reforms. If we want to achieve similar victories on DLA reform when they are debated on Tuesday, we will need to maintain this pressure and momentum and we will need your help to do so.
BREAKING NEWS: The Government has backed down over making people wait six months to access the new PIP benefit and has agreed to keep the qualifying period at three months. Thanks to all of our campaigners who helped to make this happen!
Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of Mind
How you can help
It’s vital that as many Peers as possible turn out to vote on the DLA reforms on Tuesday. Conservative Peers are unlikely to vote against the Government’s proposals so we are focusing our efforts on Liberal Democrat, Labour and crossbench Peers.
If you use Twitter, you can help by tweeting at one or more Crossbench or Liberal Democrat Peers with one of the following messages:
New tweet!: The DLA reforms need more time to be properly scrutinised before being implemented – Pls vote for amendment 50E today #ttd
PIP assessors need expertise in mental health to fairly decide if ppl are eligible – pls vote for amendment 50b today #ttd
16 Comments
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We need to protect vunerable people not frighten and bring more fear into their already fragile lives
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The 6 month wait is not much of a concession, PIP descriptors pretty much exclude mental health as mental health is being disproportionately excluded from everything else i.e. travel cards.
People will need help with dressing/washing in order to qualify, even those with physical disabilities will struggle to get it. DLA is much more than assistance, it's what makes the difference between existing and living, and without it, people don't qualify for Direct Payments, working tax credits, income support [free prescriptions]. It will mean many people will be forced to live on £67 a week.
The WCA is failing badly, a version of that for PIP will fail badly. -
I do not know how to tweet. But I would like to say that as with lots of mentally ill people I struggle daily to maintain the will to live. I am scared to bits about any interview as I don't manage to go out anywhere and panic if the door goes. And if I lose any money I will Go more into debt and I fear for my personal future. And I know many people will feel the same. Life is hard with a mental issue without someone telling you to return to work when you can't even leave the house. Good luck to Mind and thank you.
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All tweeted! Lets hope it makes a difference.
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I am worried about all of the changes that are about to take place,worse than that,i feel powerless.I consider myself to be resiliant yet i am dreading having to lve in much reduced cicumstances.I had to apply several times before i got any DLA,i felt releived until i i was informed by a benenfit advisor that i should receive the high care rate as i am Bipolar,that is to say i require 24 hour care during the acute phases.It took a further two attempts before i got it and this took place over four to five years so those Politicians out there who think it just dropped into our laps,are very much mistaken.
There are a lot of people in high places who imagine that if we are forced to live on a pitifil income then we shaall be driven back to work,not realising that if we were fit enough to hold down a full time job then we would be at work,providing we could find an employer who could/would give us a job.I have chronic sleep problems amongst other things so i would be stuggling in the morning just as i did when i did have job,often lost them as a consequence of poor punctuality.
What will this do to thse with mental illnesses,ltes hope that this upheaval does not bring about an increase in acute episodes/suicidal ideas etc as thanks to previous ill thought out penny pinching our CMHTs and inpatient facilities have been savagely cut. -
So what is Mind's next step now?
Legal challenge?
Build on the evidence of the Spartacus Report?
Collate stats on admissions and suicides?
Focus attention on this rather than anti-stigma campaigns?
Not work with "back to work" schemes which preclude adverse publicity within the contracts?
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There is a reason mental health is excluded from PIP-they want us all doing workfare, therefore saving govt money. It will be dressed up as a positive thing, getting us doing something, ie 'recovery'.
It will not matter how ill you are, if your arms and legs can work they are determined to get as much out of you as they can, yes even for 62 pounds a week. Those who cant do it will be left by the wayside, no income and homeless.
The 'lucky' ones may find themselves readmitted, the rest will be left to survive or not.
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I have been watching the amazing Sue Marsh and other disabled campaigners FIGHT these reforms with almost no resources and they have made a bigger impact than any of the major charities in the Lords.
If all, or even one put as much passion and fight into this issue, then I don't think we would be in this position.
Mind, What are you really doing? Lobbying isn't working, little blog releases is falling on deaf ears. Mind, please fight for us and our futures. Make real noise. Get noticed. Get your own report done into how this process was conducted, take legal action, anything but continue to limp your way through this process.
No one was talking about what Mind say the impact will be on the day of the Lords vote. No, the "little people" had to make the noise and they did it with more fight and passion than I have ever seen from this charity or any other. But it is not enough.
The charities failed us on ESA. You cannot fail us again on DLA.
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I think you're right Linda. mental health service users [when they can get a service] are the easiest fodder for workfare and services have already done picking up litter as a recovery exercises
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Matt, of course Mind will fail us.
They will never actually fight for us, not in the way we need them to.
And here's why:(extract for those unable or unwilling to click the link:)
"The government in an unheard of clause applied to the work programme contracts has gagged them from criticising the government, its departments and personnel. The Providers in turn have applied this clause to sub-contractors such as the charity sector." -
Thanks for all your comments and all the recent support we have had in our efforts to campaign on PIP. It was disappointing on Tuesday that the House of Lords did not pass a key amendment calling for additional scrutiny of the Government's proposals.
However, we have not given up hope of improving how PIP will work for people with mental health problems. Already we have ensured that there is significant focus on mental health in the assessment, and we have helped to reinstate important aspects of DLA such as the three month qualifying period and the inclusion of supervision in the assessment.
The regulations that decide how the assessment will work and what the thresholds are will have to be debated further and voted on later in the year. Between then and now, we will be responding to the formal consultation on the assessment and trying to ensure that people currently receiving DLA do not lose out when it is replaced by PIP.
Sign up for our campaign bulletins to stay up-to-date and involved: http://www.mind.org.uk/get_involved/take_action/be_a_mind_campaigner
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I have to agree Sue Marsh has achieved more than all of the charities with no resources so I think we need to support the people who are putting the work in - Sue, disabled activists and the CAB, because it's never going to be the charities
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Statutory services eg NHS, Social Services say very little to complain about welfare reform.
Psychiatrists were involved in briefings to government over ESA. Their representatives say very little now.
Collusion by so many, trust has gone. The money they earn or fear is too great even when they can see a crisis coming. -
It is important for us to clarify that the national office of Mind is neither a prime or sub-prime provider in the Work Programme and so is not subject to any contractual obligations that would limit our ability to speak out on Government policy on welfare reform.
We have consistently and publicly expressed our concerns about the impact of a number of Government policies on people with mental health problems and will continue to do so. We have also worked hard to support and facilitate people with mental health problems to have their voices heard, including helping to organise the Hardest Hit marches and supporting the Spartacus Report.
We share our supporter's frustration at the lack of concessions from the Government and the continued negative media coverage of disability benefits. However, we know that the best chance of success is for disability organisations and people with disabilities and illnesses to fight together for a fair and effective benefits and welfare system.
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http://www.disabilityworksuk.org/node/4
Tom at MIND said in previous post
It is important for us to clarify that the national office of Mind is neither a prime or sub-prime provider in the Work Programme and so is not subject to any contractual obligations that would limit our ability to speak out on Government policy on welfare reform.
As far as I see MIND is involved in the work programme all be it at a local level. I believe service users should know about this. It is clear from above link MIND signed up at some level. Mental illness sufferers can make their own opinion once all the facts are on the table.
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you're right Paul, healthcare workers could refuse to do the assessments, if they all did they couldn't sack all of them besides most do it as side work, one doctor even did it whilst off sick from his normal job. The RCP have been appallingly silent on cuts to services and welfare and given they will be picking up the pieces of crises it's a bit rich. At least the RCN refused to validate the 'assessments', but the BMA hosted a table of the company at their conferences. The collusion is across the board.
Stat services won't always assist their service users with forms now and are under pressure to deliver the no 1 recovery target - employment. Mental health employment support attached to CMHT's have a low bar - shelf stacking, cleaning, and their support is time limited or even has to be paid for. Then the CMHT will discharge quickly so little in-work support because getting a job no matter how stressful or unwanted hits the recovery target.
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