Bracknell Forest Homes has become the first housing association to partner with disability specialist DisabledGo to provide detailed access information about its sheltered and extra support housing as well as its office.

The partnership sees highly detailed accessibility information published about buildings owned and managed by the housing association. Features include information about parking facilities and hearing and visual accessibility information to help residents and visitors.

Bracknell Forest Homes

Caroline Titley, Chief Executive at Bracknell Forest Homes said: “Accessibility for our customers and visitors is very important to us. We are committed to providing the best possible information and services to our customers and we see the results of this project as an excellent way of empowering disabled people to make informed choices about the housing we offer and to access our services.”

Information to each of the housing association’s 11 sheltered schemes has been collected by a DisabledGo surveyor to a set standard, used nationally – that guarantees the quality of the information. People can find out general information such as the availability of parking and adapted toilets to the very specific, including how doors open, the car park surface type, whether hearing assistance systems are available even the type of taps fitted. All the detail collected by DisabledGo has been asked for directly by disabled people through ongoing consultation.

Bracknell Forest Homes is a not-for-profit organisation with charitable status, which owns and manages 5,600 homes in Bracknell Forest, Berkshire.

Bracknell Forest Homes has not only worked with DisabledGo to provide detailed, accurate information for the Association’s customers but also commissioned Good Practice Guidance reports to find out how access could be improved in the future.

DisabledGo

Speaking about their partnership Anna Borthwick, Head of Business Development at DisabledGo said ‘We are thrilled that Bracknell Forest Homes commissioned this work, it offers disabled people greater choice and further enhances customer service. We very much hope that other housing associations will look at the pioneering work done by Bracknell Forest Homes and see the value it could offer their Association.’

For more information and to see the information for each sheltered scheme and Berkshire Court office, please visit www.bracknellforesthomes.org.uk and www.disabledgo.com

The All Inclusive PA School, backed by Hampshire County Council, will open its doors in September for its first intake of PAs; the 10-module course has been developed not only for new PAs but existing PAs who have been following the vocation for some time where there has never before been an opportunity to gain a recognised PA qualification. The All Inclusive PA School is NOT an arrogant attempt to train with a “we-know-what’s-needed, we’re-the-experts” attitude, but we ARE providing basic training that allows the disabled employer to concentrate on the training specific to the role; also our training course instils the PA with self confidence to fulfil his/her role.

This is an exciting opportunity because we recognise the importance of PAs as the vehicle to facilitate the Personalisation agenda to its fullest potential.  All Inclusive’s Managing Director who has Cerebral Palsy has been using PAs for about 10 years and knows from personal experience how invaluable they are; he has masterminded All Inclusive’s PA School and long-since recognised that we need to give PAs a “toolbox” of skills to approach the job professionally, and also inspire them with  confidence to adapt and work with individuals to facilitate their required solutions.

All Inclusive has embraced the full spirit of Personalisation to produce a service that will create an everlasting difference to the provision of care and support to disabled people by providing them with a vehicle to Live Life and not the Label. The All Inclusive PA School will deliver a wide-ranging basic training in ten modules to become a Personal Assistant (PA): this is much more than just a career, you are assisting disabled people get much more out of life.  This is not just about personal care – this is about possibly helping disabled people work in the voluntary sector, gain paid employment, enjoy hobbies/interests, or take part in social events and community activities.

Much of PA-ing is around flexible working hours, so it suits a wide range of people: those retired who wish to boost their pensions, university students and single parent families who want to earn more and of course, those that want a complete career change.  If you are a “people-person” and would like a holistic career where no two days are the same, then becoming a PA is for you!  There is already an army of PAs who have been doing the job very well for years but with no recognised PA training course, having to rely on training designed for carers.  All Inclusive wants to create good practice within the PA profession. We also recognise that existing PAs won’t require the whole 10 module course and we have priced the modules individually as well, for this reason.

The All Inclusive PA School also has a comprehensive database for the PAs we train, as well as existing Professional PAs and Care Assistants who want to be employed by disabled individuals.  All PAs and Care Assistants will undertake CRB checks before they are added to the database. All Inclusive matches the support need requirements of our disabled clients advising them of suitable candidates for interview: upon successful recruitment of a candidate we will then charge them a one-off Placement Fee.

Iain Speed, Managing Director of All Inclusive Disability Consultants CIC, says “As a service user myself, I recognise the need for change to a more dynamic and imaginative system.  Under Personalisation disabled and older people need to employ staff with confidence.  All Inclusive will produce a potential workforce that is confident and have appropriate training.  Our disabled clients can choose candidates knowing they won’t have  to repeatedly give basic training, but get on with their LIFE.

Below is our first 10-week schedule of 2 complete courses:

You can find detailed information about all the services offered by All Inclusive at www.allinclusivecic.com, along with links to our partners and other companies associated with disability.  Keep up-to-date with our latest news by following us on Facebook and Twitter (links available on the website) and use our ‘Contact Us’ page to request further information or to find out more about us.

All Inclusive is available to any organisation. For further information contact Iain Speed at All Inclusive Disability Consultants CIC, Old School House, Main Road, Kingsley, Hampshire, GU35 9ND, email iain@allinclusivecic.com or telephone 01420 488885.

Tens of thousands of disabled people will be at risk of having their homes repossessed because the government is cutting spending on a mortgage interest support scheme, according to a national housing body.

The chancellor, George Osborne, announced in his emergency budget in June that the government would cut funding available through the Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) scheme, which helps many homeowners on income-related benefits.

From October, the rate paid will be cut from 6.08 per cent to the Bank of England average mortgage rate, which is currently about 3.67 per cent.

But the National Housing Federation (NHF), which represents housing associations in England, said this would mean many of the 64,000 disabled people who receive support through the scheme would be at risk of “plunging into arrears”.

About 5,000 of these disabled people – many of whom have high support needs – have used the scheme to obtain niche mortgages to pay for shared ownership homes provided by housing associations.

The federation also fears that many of the building societies that offer these niche mortgages will withdraw the products from the market because the new rates will no longer meet their costs.

David Orr, the federation’s chief executive, said it was “a particularly harsh way” to cut public spending because it would hit thousands of disabled people who would not be able to own a home outright or purchase one through shared ownership in any other way.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said it was changing the rate because more than 90 per cent of people were currently receiving more than they paid out in mortgage interest every month, which was “unfair to the taxpayer and not a good use of public funds”.

A DWP spokeswoman added: “Using the Bank of England rate will ensure that people still get the help they need with their mortgage interest payments.”

But NHF insisted that many of the disabled people currently receiving support through the scheme pay more than 3.67 per cent on their mortgages and so could be at risk of losing their homes.

Gavin Smart, NHF’s director of research, said the federation was concerned that the DWP did not appear to have carried out a comprehensive assessment of the impact of the spending cut on disabled people.

He said: “We are very concerned that when the rate drops to 3.67 per cent, a significant number of disabled people who use SMI as a way of accessing a secure and sustainable home of their own will be at risk of not being able to meet their repayments and at risk of losing their home.”

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

Channel 4 has pledged that at least half of the presenters it uses for its blanket coverage of the London 2012 Paralympics will be disabled people.

It made the promise as it announced initial details of a £500,000 programme to find disabled sports reporters and presenters and develop their skills in readiness for its blanket coverage of the London games in 2012.

Ade Adepitan, the Channel 4 presenter and former Paralympian, said: “I think it’s important to have Paralympians commentating and imparting their knowledge of the Paralympic games.”

Although some of those recruited are likely to be former Paralympians, Channel 4 also wants to identify other disabled “talent”, who could eventually work across “all of Channel 4’s broadcast output”.

Alison Walsh, Channel 4’s disability executive, said the broadcaster had made “a lot of progress” in featuring disabled actors in its drama, as well as disabled people on reality shows such as Location, Location, Location and Big Brother.

But she said: “Presenting talent is the last big hurdle. It is a big launching pad for us to find new and good presenting talent that can have a life beyond the Paralympics.

“We are not talking about parachuting disabled people in just because there’s a quota. It’s a barrier that needs to be broken through.”

And she said it was “key” that Channel 4 kept up its “proper mainstream inclusion of disabled people across other parts of the schedule”.

She added: “I think it’s really important that I keep my foot on the throttle for that.”

The 2012 talent search will be launched later this month.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

Alcoholics, people with hayfever and those with tendencies to steal or set fires will not be able to claim protection from disability discrimination under the Equality Act, according to new government guidance.

The draft guidance, published this week by the Office for Disability Issues, says that people with disfigurements caused by tattoos or non-medical body piercings should also not be treated as disabled people under the act.

The act defines a disabled person as someone with a “physical or mental impairment” which has a “substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities”.

People with cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis do not have to meet this test and are protected under the act from the moment they are diagnosed, while those certified as blind, sight-impaired or partially-sighted by a consultant ophthalmologist are also automatically protected.

The final version of the guidance will be used by courts and tribunals to decide whether someone is a disabled person protected from discrimination by the act, which became law earlier this year. Implementation of most of the act begins on 1 October.

The draft guidance includes a string of examples of disabled people who would and would not be protected by the act.

For example, a woman with learning difficulties who finds it difficult travelling alone because she often gets lost in slightly unfamiliar areas would be seen to be experiencing a “substantial adverse effect” on her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

Other factors that would be seen as having a “substantial adverse effect” on the ability to carry out such activities include “difficulty opening a moderately heavy door” and “persistent difficulty” in remembering the names of family or friends.

But factors that would not be included under the act include “simple clumsiness”, “inability to carry heavy luggage without assistance”, and “inability to sing in tune”.

A consultation on the draft guidance, which applies to England, Scotland and Wales, closes on 31 October 2010. To take part, visit www.officefordisability.gov.uk/working/equality-bill.php

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

A unique access guide that will empower disabled people to access healthcare with confidence is set to launch this month.

DisabledGo, the UK’s foremost provider of disabled access information, has produced a unique new online guide to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust (GOSH). The aim of the guide is to provide detailed, accurate information so people can find out more about the access they will find when they come to visit. Put together thanks to sponsorship from GOSH, the DisabledGo guide covers all patient services within the Hospital.

The new guide comes at a time of ambitious change for the Hospital as they battle with buildings that are nearing the end of their useful lives and must be replaced. Without this redevelopment, advances in technology and treatments will not be so readily translated into real improvements in the care of sick children. World-class facilities that embrace the latest technologies are vital to the Hospital’s ability to make a real and long lasting impact on the health of children across the globe.

Phase 1 of the redevelopment (which is split into four phases) was completed in 2006 at a cost of £88 million, transforming the experience of children, families and staff. The redevelopment resulted in new clinical facilities, a patient and family hotel and improved outpatient facilities for services within the neighbouring Royal London Homeopathic Hospital.

Credit to Llewelyn Davies Yeang (2)

All of these new facilities will be available to view on the DisabledGo-Great Ormond Street Hospital access guide. By logging on to www.disabledgo.com people can check, where their consultation room is in relation to the main entrance, whether there are lifts to access other floors, whether a hearing loop is fitted at reception, the type of announcements in waiting areas, whether information is available in alternative formats and in-depth information about adapted toilets.

The final two phases have yet to be fully costed and designed but Phases 3 and 4 of the redevelopment programme include the relocation of outpatient services into a new Ambulatory Care Centre and the creation of a new central square and main entrance pavilion.

The re-development will see the Hospital’s oldest facilities upgraded to provide the world-class standard GOSH seeks to deliver and the new online access guide will help increase patient choice and improve the clinical experience.

Channel 4 says it wants to make its wall-to-wall coverage of the London 2012 Paralympics the “biggest event” in its history.

The broadcaster is promising a multi-million pound marketing campaign in the lead-up to London 2012 – again the biggest in its history – and promised that coverage during the games would be “pretty much first thing in the morning until last thing at night”.

Channel 4 will start the countdown to 2012 later this month, with a weekend of Paralympic-themed programming.

The channel’s youth strand T4 will be hosted across the bank holiday weekend from a location near the ParalympicsGB training camp in Bath and will include the first in a 10-week magazine series, That Paralympic Show, co-presented by former Paralympian Ade Adepitan.

On Sunday 29 August, exactly two years before the opening ceremony of the 2012 Paralympics, the channel will air a feature-length documentary, Inside Incredible Athletes, which uses scientific tests and scanning technology to create “biomechanical portraits” of seven elite athletes hoping to represent ParalympicsGB in 2012.

The documentary will be promoted with an “ambitious” marketing campaign –using the phrase “freaks of nature” – that “aims to challenge perceptions of disability sport and encourage the audience to question their own prejudices”.

The following day, Channel 4 will show highlights of the IPC swimming world championships in the Netherlands.

Launching the channel’s plans for 2012, Julian Bellamy, Channel 4’s acting chief creative officer, said research showed 84 per cent of the British public could not name a single Paralympian.

Adepitan said Channel 4 was “taking the Paralympics into a new era” and promised that it would “turn our Paralympians into household names”.

Speaking after the launch, Alison Walsh, Channel 4’s disability executive, said the broadcaster was “very alive” to potential criticism that its programmes would have a “medical model” emphasis on elite athletes and their impairments, overshadowing the problems caused by the barriers that disabled people faced in society.

But she said the channel hoped to change attitudes of “pity” towards disabled people. Inside Incredible Athletes would be “empowering” and portray the athletes instead as “really powerful”, she said.

“It will not be all about making them into some kind of super-hero. They are going to be [shown as] really hard-working athletes.”

But she added: “The disabled audience have to be the judge.”

Chris Holmes, who won nine Paralympic swimming gold medals and is now director of Paralympic integration for the 2012 organising committee, said the games could change the way society views disabled people, as they did in South Korea after it hosted the 1988 games.

He said the weekend of programmes was a “great way to launch it with two years to go” and would be “a great weekend of sport”.

Channel 4 also announced that BT and Sainsbury’s had become joint sponsors of its Paralympic programming.

That Paralympic Show, Saturday 28 August, 1.25pm, Channel 4.

Inside Incredible Athletes, Sunday 29 August, 9pm, Channel 4.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

Relatives of people with learning difficulties who were allegedly abused at an NHS day centre are to take legal action against the trust that ran the centre.

They also want South Yorkshire police to reopen its investigation into the allegations of abuse by four members of staff at the Solar Centre in Doncaster.

Police investigated the allegations in 2007, but failed to produce enough evidence to press any charges.

Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (RDaSH) then carried out its own investigation and uncovered evidence that 18 people with learning difficulties, high support needs and physical and sensory impairments had been abused.

The trust has said the “majority” of the allegations were proven, although all four staff members are said to have denied all the allegations. The trust’s report was leaked to the press last month.

Adrian Milnes, whose step-son Richie was one of the alleged victims, called on the trust to name the four staff members.

He said: “We want to know their names. The trust should be open about that. The only assurance they have given us is that Richie will not come into contact with them on their premises.

“These people have been allowed to evaporate and disappear from the radar.”

A spokeswoman for RDaSH said two former members of its staff had been referred to the Protection of Vulnerable Adults scheme – now the vetting and barring scheme run by the Independent Safeguarding Authority – and this “should ensure that they are not employed in the future in any other registered service caring for vulnerable adults”.

She said a third member of staff was no longer employed within the trust’s Learning Disabilities Directorate. The fourth member of staff was employed by a different trust. RDaSH was unable to say what measures would be taken to ensure that these two people would not have any contact with the alleged victims.

She said: “We can’t release specific details about members of staff because then we breach our duty of confidentiality towards them.”

Milnes said his family and at least one other would be seeking damages from the trust over its failure to protect their relatives.

He said his step-son’s behaviour had completely changed as a result of what happened. “It has been broken sleeps and nightmares for nearly six years now. He has become aggressive. He is now perceiving threats where he didn’t before.

“Before this happened he was very loving, patient and considerate. He doesn’t have any patience anymore.”

He is hoping to contact more relatives, so they can share information and offer mutual support.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

The government is set to use private companies to trawl through disabled people’s credit histories as part of its latest campaign to cut benefit fraud.

The prime minister, David Cameron, announced this week on a visit to Manchester that the government would unveil an “uncompromising” crackdown on benefit fraud this autumn, which could include tougher penalties and more prosecutions for fraud.

He said the government wanted to use credit ratings agencies to “go after those who are claiming illegally”.

The government wants to pay these companies according to how many fraudulent claims they detect. It was widely reported in the mainstream media that government sources had described these fees as “bounty payments”.

Experian, one of the companies that already works on fraud detection with the government, claims it could use “simple data matching techniques to identify lifestyles incompatible with people genuinely incapable of work” and save £300 million in incapacity benefit (IB) fraud and error.

This is a far higher sum than the government’s latest estimates of £210 million lost every year to IB fraud and error, of which just £30 million is fraud.

Experian would use techniques such as checking that information given to the DWP in a benefit claim matches information given by the claimant to other organisations, and analysing whether their income levels suggest they have a job.

But disabled activist Adam Lotun, director of Workplace Disability Adjustments, said he was very concerned about “consultants coming in who…do not understand the needs and requirements of disabled people”.

He said: “I am worried that a lot of [innocent disabled] people are going to get caught up and accused of fraud.”

The Scottish Campaign on Welfare Reform (SCoWR) said the DWP’s figures showed total benefit fraud was less than one per cent of all claims, with errors caused by underpayments, overpayments, poor administration and bureaucracy far more of a problem.

Maggie Kelly, of the Scottish Poverty Alliance, said it was “about time that David Cameron started to focus on the huge amount of money lost through DWP mistakes and the £40bn a year lost in high level tax avoidance and evasion. The amount lost through benefit fraud is tiny in comparison.”

It also emerged that the government is considering forcing claimants of the new employment and support allowance (ESA) to take their work assessment test earlier than the current 14 weeks.

Chris Grayling, the employment minister, suggested that many of the people who abandon their ESA claims before taking the test have been claiming the benefit fraudulently.

He said: “You can wait 13 weeks on ESA before you have a medical check – 30 or 40 per cent of claims stop before that 13 weeks is up. That is something we should give some thought to.”

A DWP spokeswoman said they were “looking at options” for having the work capability assessment take place earlier in the assessment process for ESA, although no decisions had yet been made.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has used controversial laws designed for confiscating property from terrorists and drug dealers to freeze the assets of two disabled businessmen under investigation for benefit fraud.

The two disabled men – who cannot be named for legal reasons – say the investigation by the DWP has destroyed their lives and ruined their business, even though they have yet to be charged with any offence.

The government has used the Proceeds of Crime Act (PoCA) to freeze all of their assets – and made it impossible to continue running their company – before they have had a chance to defend themselves in court.

Allegations of Access to Work fraud were first made in March against the two men, who are directors of a company that provided jobs for a number of disabled people.

The allegations were later extended to cover fraud relating to disability living allowance. They have both been extensively interviewed over claims of fraud totalling millions of pounds, although they claim the grants they received totalled far less than this.

They say their Motability vehicles, electric wheelchairs, disability benefits, bank accounts, medical aids and access to council care and support have all been seized, restrained or denied.

Both men even had all of the cash taken from their wallets by police after being interviewed about the allegations. Under PoCA, they are both given £250 a week to live on, although it has taken four months for them to start receiving that money.

One of the men, David (not his real name), said they had had their right to a fair hearing removed, which had led to a “Kafka-esque situation” in which they had been subjected to “all the available sanctions available under law” before they had been charged with any offence.

Both men say they can prove that they are disabled and were entitled to claim the benefits.

David said: “They have literally thrown everything they can against us. I have had my company taken away. My livelihood has been removed.

“We feel like we’ve been scooped up and dumped in Communist Russia where justice for the common man no longer exists yet those in charge are able to do as they want and get away with it.”

Writing about PoCA in the Guardian last November – before he became a government minister – the Liberal Democrat MP Chris Huhne said the “Al Capone powers” within the act to search homes, seize cash, freeze bank accounts and confiscate property were “designed to claw back the money and assets accrued by Mr Bigs and deprive them of a luxury lifestyle funded by a lifetime of criminality”.

But he warned that the act had “increasingly been used to seize the assets of minor offenders” in order to meet stiff government targets.

A Department for Work and Pensions spokeswoman said: “We do not comment on ongoing investigations.”

When asked to comment on the DWP’s use of PoCA, she said: “I would not comment on that.”

But she added: “It is one of the laws we are entitled to use.”

A spokesman for the police force which arrested the men said: “We were involved in taking out the search warrants, executing the searches and making arrests on behalf of the DWP. It is the DWP’s case, which…police are assisting on.”

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

A unique project – backed by international trade unions – aims to promote the employment rights of disabled people in Tanzania.

The pilot programme will find jobs for 20 disabled people, while training existing trade union members in Tanzania to be “disability champions” in the workplace.

It will also deliver training on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to 100 disabled people and about 20 disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) in Tanzania.

The project is being run by the charity Disability Aid Abroad (DAA), which is based in Northern Ireland and chaired by disabled journalist John Coghlan.

He said the scheme aimed to build the capacity of DPOs in Tanzania and empower DPOs and individual disabled people to understand and demand their rights.

It is believed to be the first time that international trade unions have worked to protect the employment rights of disabled workers in developing countries.

The employment part of the scheme will start in January 2011, with the training of the disability champions starting next month.

The project has secured the financial backing of the TUC in the UK, NIC-ICTU, the umbrella organisation for trade unions in Ireland, other unions in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and AFL-CIO, a federation of 56 US labour unions.

Two members of the Tanzanian trade union TUICO will visit London and Belfast in late November to receive “disability champions” training from the TUC and NIC-ICTU, while Coghlan hopes there will be further exchange visits between the UK and Ireland and Tanzania.

UK and Irish unions have so far raised £28,000 of the £42,000 needed to fund the project.

Coghlan hopes the scheme – which will be run in partnership with local trade unions and community organisations – will challenge the stigma surrounding disability in Tanzania.

Disabled people in Tanzania also face inaccessible transport and workplaces, with less than five per cent of disabled people in paid jobs, while only about five per cent of disabled children attend secondary school.

Coghlan said: “The legislation is already there in Tanzania. It is just not being implemented.”

The training will be carried out in Tanzania by the Northern Ireland charity Disability Action.

The project has also secured the backing of the Tanzanian government, and the European Union has signalled that it could roll it out across Tanzania.

If the project is successful, DAA hopes it will be used as a template for trade unions to run similar projects in other developing countries.

To contact John Coghlan, email coghlan@ireland.com

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

Planned cuts to hundreds of jobs across London Underground could make it harder for disabled passengers to secure the assistance they need to use the service, say campaigners.

Three organisations that campaign on disability issues – London Visual Impairment Forum (LVIF), Transport for All and Inclusion London – have written to the mayor, Boris Johnson, saying they are “greatly concerned” about the proposed cuts.

They believe the job losses could “seriously undermine the mobility of older and disabled people in the capital”.

Their letter says: “Whilst we understand that budgets are tight our concerns centre around the impact on the level of assistance that will then be available to older and disabled people. We are also concerned about the implications for personal security.”

They say many disabled people rely on London Underground staff assistance to use ticket machines, negotiate barriers and access platforms, and during service disruptions and emergencies, while many disabled people feel safer if they know there are staff around to call on if needed.

Transport for London (TfL) is planning to cut up to 800 posts. It says most of them will be ticket office positions.

A TfL spokesman said that only one in 20 journeys involved any interaction at a ticket office window, while it wants to “deploy staff more visibly in stations where they can more easily assist passengers”.

He said all stations “will continue to be staffed at all times while trains are operating”, and added: “The safe operations of our network remains at the top of our priorities and these changes will improve our performance still further.”

But LVIF, Inclusion London and Transport for All said that some disabled people were unable to use automatic ticket machines and would continue to need assistance from staff in ticket offices.

They said their concerns “should be addressed in detail” before they could be reassured that staff would still be available to meet the needs of disabled people after the job cuts.

They pointed to the example of a disabled woman who had reported her experience of separate journeys through three tube stations. “In none of these stations were staff visible and she was unable to find anyone to offer advice or assistance.

“Whereas she normally feels relaxed and confident when using the underground, on these occasions she felt frightened and vulnerable.”

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

Disability organisations have given a cool reception to a government document that pledges sweeping changes to the benefits system.

Although the plans outlined in 21^st Century Welfare are lacking in detail and include several options for reform, they focus on a new “Universal Credit”, which would replace a range of benefits and tax credits with a single payment.

Launching a consultation on the plans, work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith said he was proposing a “fundamental change” to the welfare system, and promised to “end the culture of worklessness and dependency”.

The government claims the new system would provide greater incentives to work by changing the way in which benefits are reduced as incomes rise and allowing people to keep more of their earnings.

Disabled people unable to work would still have to undergo the unpopular work capability assessment (WCA), but the document says the government would not cut support for people “in the most vulnerable circumstances”, and there would still be “extra support for families, disabled people and carers”.

Disability campaigners pointed to the lack of policy detail in the document and are likely to focus their efforts instead on the government’s planned reform of disability living allowance, as well as pushing for improvements to the WCA.

Neil Coyle, director of policy for Disability Alliance, said: “The aspiration to simplify the benefits system is a good one and one that Disability Alliance supports.

“Whether we think that this paper is the approach we would recommend is a different issue.”

Anne Kane, policy manager for Inclusion London, said: “Disabled people’s organisations will want to study the detail of Iain Duncan Smith’s welfare proposals carefully.”

But she said the government had made it clear that it wanted to cut spending on benefits, increase means-testing and cut back on the public sector. “Iain Duncan Smith says he wants to ‘make work pay’ but the government is reducing the supports disabled people use to help them take up work and live independent lives, such as disability living allowance.”

Mark Baker, co-chair of the Disability Benefits Consortium’s policy group, said there was too little detail in the document to comment, but that the consortium was “committed to ensure that welfare reform doesn’t impact negatively on disabled people” and that the government takes disabled people’s rights and interests into account.

The consultation lasts until 1 October. For further details, visit: www.dwp.gov.uk/consultations/

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

Home secretary Theresa May has warned the chancellor that the government’s planned spending cuts could cause it to breach its legal duty to promote disability equality.

May wrote to George Osborne on 9 June in her role as women and equalities minister, two weeks before his emergency budget, warning him of “real risks that women, ethnic minorities, disabled people and older people will be disproportionately affected” by spending cuts.

Her letter was written on the same day that the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) wrote to the civil servants who head every government department – including the Treasury – to ask for “reassurance” that they would comply with their legal duties to consider the impact of spending cuts on disabled people, ethnic minorities and women.

A number of disabled people’s organisations have raised serious concerns about the impact of cuts on disabled people, particularly around disability benefits, with one calling plans to cut spending on disability living allowance by 20 per cent a “wholesale, brutal attack on disabled people”.

In her letter, leaked to the Guardian newspaper, May said there was a “real risk” of successful legal challenges – for example by those receiving public services or the EHRC – if government departments could not show they had taken equality issues into account in reaching their spending decisions.

This week, the Fawcett Society, which campaigns for equality for women, announced it was seeking a judicial review of the emergency budget on the grounds that it would increase inequality between men and women.

The EHRC told Disability News Service that it was closely monitoring the potential impact on disabled people as government departments prepared their plans for spending cuts.

The EHRC is in “initial discussions” with all government departments – including the Treasury – about the equality impact of their spending decisions, and is “watching with interest” the progress of the Fawcett Society judicial review.

If the government fails to comply with its equality duties, the EHRC has a range of powers, which include holding a formal inquiry.

Asked whether a formal inquiry was a possibility, an EHRC spokeswoman said: “I really wouldn’t want to speculate on that. So far our discussions with the departments have been fairly positive. What happens next remains to be seen.”

A Government Equalities Office spokeswoman said: “The letter was simply a formality. In her capacity as minister for women and equalities, Theresa May wrote to all government departments – not just the Treasury – reminding them of their legal responsibilities under the 2006 Equality Act.”

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

Police are investigating the deaths of a disabled woman and her mother, whose bodies appear to have been lying undiscovered in their home for several weeks.

The bodies of Sam Wolf, 29, and her mother Stephania, 67, were finally discovered this week at their home in Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire.

Hertfordshire social services claim that both Sam – who was a wheelchair-user – and Stephania Wolf refused a series of offers of support over the last 12 years.

A council spokesman said social services carried out an assessment of Sam Wolf’s needs in August 1998, which resulted in “the provision of equipment and major adaptations to the property to provide disability access”, such as ramps and rails.

He said: “Following on from this, various offers of support offered by adult care services were declined.”

There was a further assessment of her needs in March 2006, after which the council offered to provide day services and “various other support”. The offer was again declined, he said.

Hertfordshire police said early post mortem results showed neither woman had received any external injuries or were victims of violence before they died.

They said the results of forensic tests to establish the causes of death were not expected for “a number of weeks” and it would be “impossible to speculate further on causes until these results have come through”.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

A new social enterprise is aiming to create 50 jobs for people with autism in Scotland, by providing skilled software-testing services to businesses.

Specialisterne Scotland, which was launched by Scottish government minister John Swinney this week, is modelled on a Danish company which was set up to offer mainstream jobs at market rates of pay to people with autism.

About three-quarters of the 60 staff at Specialisterne in Denmark have autism and they work in areas such as programming and software testing.

The company uses the skills and characteristics shared by some people with autism, such as precision and consistency, to provide IT services to businesses around the world.

Now Specialisterne Scotland, which is based in Glasgow, is set to use this successful blueprint to provide jobs for people with autism in Scotland.

Over the next six months, Specialisterne Scotland will recruit and train 12 people with autism, with commercial testing due to begin early next year. It aims to create a workplace with “a high degree of planning, predictability, systemisation and minimal stress”.

By 2015, it expects to be employing 61 people, 50 of whom will have autism.

The new business has been developed by the social enterprise support agency Community Enterprise in Scotland (CEiS), with support from the National Autistic Society Scotland (NASS) and the Autism Resource Centre.

Gerry Higgins, chief executive of CEiS, said: “We know from the experience in Denmark that Specialisterne Scotland has the potential to change lives for the better by providing mainstream employment at the market rate for people with autism, while transforming recruitment attitudes and business practices.

“In the longer term, we anticipate that the majority of the workforce will be working at customer premises, assisting the competitiveness of Scottish businesses.”

SS has secured £700,000 in grant and loan funding from the Scottish government’s Scottish Investment Fund, a Big Lottery award of more than £400,000 as well as £30,000 from Glasgow City Council.

NASS said its research had found only 13 per cent of adults with autism in Scotland had jobs.

Carol Evans, national director for NASS, said Specialisterne Scotland was “a real breakthrough in employers recognising the strengths of people with autism as key staff in their workforce”.

Kieran Pentland, who has Asperger’s syndrome and works for NASS as an employment consultant, said: “Being in an occupation that I love and enjoy doing has given me a sense of purpose, financial independence, boosted my confidence, lifted my depression, and restored my pride and dignity.”

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

The health trust at the centre of allegations of ill-treatment and neglect of people with learning difficulties at a day centre has taken nearly two years to pass its report into the allegations to the healthcare watchdog.

The report describes how staff at the Solar Centre in Doncaster allegedly hit service-users and used “inappropriate force”, as well as detailing other allegations of ill-treatment between 2005 and 2007.

The local newspaper that obtained the report said there were 44 allegations of abuse, and that staff allegedly threatened and humiliated service-users, withheld food and drink and locked them in cupboards.

The report was completed by Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (RDaSH) in September 2008, and described incidents involving 18 service-users with learning difficulties, high support needs and physical and sensory impairments.

The trust said the “majority” of the allegations made against four members of staff were proven, although all four are said to have denied all the allegations.

But the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which took over the regulatory duties of the Healthcare Commission in April 2009, only received a copy of the report this week, nearly two years after it was completed. The Healthcare Commission was never given the report.

A CQC spokeswoman said: “Under the new licensing system we introduced in April, we can legally request any piece of information we believe is relevant to the quality and safety of care.”

The information in the report will now form part of the trust’s quality and risk profile. These profiles are used to decide “when, where and how” the CQC should take regulatory action.

The CQC spokeswoman said: “We will review the report to ensure the trust has learned lessons from these alleged incidents.”

Asked whether CQC was happy only to be given the report this week, she said: “Technically it is not compulsory for the trust to give us this report. The reason we wanted to see it was to see if there is anything in there we have not seen already.

“We are where we are. We have requested to see it and they have given it to us willingly and we will now take a look at it.”

Ian Jerams, RDaSH’s chief operating officer, said: “The Healthcare Commission and Care Quality Commission were kept fully informed at the time of the incidents being brought to our attention and throughout the investigation.

“Following a request from the CQC the trust has shared the contents of the report with them.”

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

The health trust at the centre of allegations of abuse of disabled service-users was given an “excellent” rating by the healthcare regulator three years running, even though the watchdog knew about the allegations.

An investigation by Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (RDaSH), which ended in September 2008, uncovered allegations of abuse of 18 people with learning difficulties, high support needs and physical and sensory impairments who used a day centre run by the trust.

The trust’s report on the investigation describes how staff at the Solar Centre in Doncaster allegedly hit service-users and used “inappropriate force”, as well as detailing other allegations of ill-treatment between 2005 and 2007.

The local newspaper that obtained the report said it contained 44 allegations of abuse, and that staff allegedly threatened and humiliated service-users, withheld food and drink and locked them in cupboards.

The trust said the “majority” of the allegations made against four members of staff were proven, although all four are said to have denied all the allegations.

But despite the Healthcare Commission being told about the allegations in 2007, the trust was given an “excellent” rating three years running, in 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09.

And so impressed was the Care Quality Commission (QC) – which took over the regulatory duties of the Healthcare Commission in April 2009 – with the standard of care at RDaSH that it was “named and famed” as one of 44 high performing trusts last October.

A CQC spokeswoman said the rating had referred to standards across the whole trust.

She said: “The commission closely monitored the trust and was satisfied that it subsequently took appropriate action to review its systems and learn from these incidents.”

She said the Healthcare Commission’s annual ratings system had now been scrapped, and the RDaSH case “demonstrates the difficulties in giving one overarching rating for large, complex organisations that deliver a myriad of services”.

She added: “There are so many indicators and so many elements of care. That is why we have moved on from that. It is so difficult to sum up the whole trust in one word.”

She said the CQC’s new regulatory system was “a real-time continual assessment of performance, which allows us to act swiftly and stamp out bad practice where we find it”.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

The government’s benefits advice body is to investigate changes to the controversial work capability test which campaigners believe will make it even harder for disabled people to claim access to the support they need.

The social security advisory committee (SSAC) decided yesterday (4 August) to hold a public consultation as part of a formal “referral” of proposed changes to the work capability assessment (WCA) regulations.

The changes to the WCA, which determines eligibility for employment and support allowance (ESA), the new out-of-work disability benefit, were made earlier this year following an internal government review, and are due to come into force next spring.

Disability organisations have repeatedly raised concerns about the fairness of the WCA since its introduction in October 2008, and say the changes are aimed at making it even harder for disabled people to claim ESA.

Rebecca Rennison, co-chair of the Disability Benefits Consortium’s (DBC) policy group, welcomed the referral.

She said: “We have consistently stressed our opposition to this review taking place so early in the life of ESA and with the express purpose of tightening access to ESA.

“Overall, the DBC cannot support the internal review’s conclusions or the proposed changes to the WCA which will result in making the test even tougher, denying vital support to many more disabled people, and running the risk of pushing even more disabled people into poverty.”

The SSAC will now hold a public consultation and prepare a report for work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, although he can legally ignore its advice.

A spokeswoman for the committee’s secretariat said the SSAC had “broad discretion” to choose which proposed regulations it reports on, but added: “I am aware – as is the committee – of the concerns expressed by stakeholder organisations.”

The SSAC is also set to consult on the housing benefit changes announced by the chancellor in his emergency budget.

A Department for Work and Pensions spokeswoman said: “Whenever we make changes to regulations we know that the SSAC often choose to consult when appropriate. We always build that [possibility] into our planning, so it is not a setback.”

She said the DWP “absolutely” stands by the proposed changes to the WCA.

A separate, independent review of how the WCA is operating – headed by Professor Malcolm Harrington – will report by the end of 2010.

Consultation details will be published next week on the committee’s website, www.ssac.org.uk

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

New research by a leading disabled activist has uncovered reports of more than 20 violent deaths of disabled people – many of them likely to be disability hate crimes – over just three months.

The report, by hate crime campaigner Anne Novis for the United Kingdom Disabled People’s Council (UKDPC), found reports of 141 offences that appeared to involve targeted hostility towards disabled people.

Of these crimes – which include physical assaults, rape, robbery, torture and arson – at least 21 involved the violent deaths of disabled people.

Some of the reports come from trials of people accused of murder and other serious offences, while others were media reports of how disabled people had died violent deaths and where the perpetrators had yet to be arrested.

Novis said she hoped her report would deliver a “wake-up call” on the extent of disability hate crime, but would also help disabled people’s organisations secure funding for their own hate crime projects.

The report has already been submitted as evidence to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s inquiry into disability-related harassment. A second, wider report by Novis for UKDPC into the extent of disability hate crime over the last three years will also be submitted to the inquiry.

Jaspal Dhani, UKDPC’s chief executive, said the crimes collated by Novis were “only the tip of the iceberg” and showed how much work needed to be done by the government to comply with its duties under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

He said: “I think that if the public became aware of the extent of the problem they would be horrified.”

Novis said she believed disability hate crime was increasing “significantly”, and was even more widespread than described in her report, partly because of under-reporting by disabled people.

Her report is based on “informal research” that draws evidence from online articles, disabled people’s blogs and disability discussion forums, and provides a “snapshot” of reports of disability hate crime over a three-month period from March to May 2010.

Novis called for disabled people and disabled people’s organisations to be given funding to carry out formal, detailed research into the extent of disability hate crime.

She said the targeted hostility experienced by disabled people was being aggravated by the debate around welfare reform, the government’s call for cuts to the disability benefits budget and the media focus on disability benefit fraud.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

Disabled activists are calling on the government to push for the release of a thalidomide survivor who has served 18 years in prison in the Philippines for drug smuggling.

Billy Burton was handed a life sentence after he was caught trying to smuggle more than five kilogrammes of cannabis out of the country in 1992.

But the time he had to serve before being eligible for parole was increased from eight to 20 years, then 30 years and then 40 years as the government increased sentences for drugs offenders.

Burton is now not due for release until 2032, when he will be 70.

Now a campaign to push for his release is being led by one of the disabled activists who helped secure a government apology and increased financial support for thalidomide survivors in the UK.

When that campaign ended successfully in January, Guy Tweedy – also a thalidomide survivor – focused his energies on campaigning for Burton’s release.

Tweedy has written to a string of public figures to ask for their support, including the Archbishop of York and foreign secretary William Hague, has met with shadow foreign minister Ivan Lewis and is due to meet Labour leadership contender Diane Abbott.

Tweedy said: “I think the establishment has let him down. The British embassy in the Philippines should be doing more and looking for a way to get him home.

“I feel that after 18 years he has done his time. During those 18 years, murderers have come and gone and he’s still there.

“He’s a good person who did a bad thing, he knows that. The time has come now to be compassionate. Everybody deserves a second chance.”

Burton, originally from Wetherby, west Yorkshire, has serious health problems, and is currently being kept in the prison’s hospital.

Dr Martin Johnson, director of The Thalidomide Trust, which administers the compensation paid to UK thalidomide survivors, visited Burton at the prison near Manila in February.

Although Burton’s health was deteriorating – including musculo-skeletal pain and problems with his hearing and eyesight – Johnson said he was in “fairly positive spirits” but “not allowing himself to think about getting out”.

More than 15,000 prisoners are kept in huge “factory-type buildings”, he said, and have to buy or beg wood to build their own living spaces.

They also have to buy any food other than the basic ration of rice, and to protect themselves from other prisoners must belong to one of the four gangs that rule the prison.

Johnson said: “It is an environment where the weak go to the wall. Bill, with his severe arm damage, is in a really difficult position.

“We support all our beneficiaries. The money we make available basically kept him going and gave him a reasonable quality of life, along with help from the local [British] consulate.”

Johnson is trying to encourage the British embassy to find a way to persuade the Philippines government to listen to a request for clemency.

Tweedy, who is from north Yorkshire, spoke to Burton by telephone in June. He said he was “overwhelmed” by the campaign to secure his release. “He couldn’t believe that after all this time anybody would bother with him.”

The trust’s national advisory council – an elected committee representing thalidomide survivors, of which Tweedy is deputy-chair – are also backing the campaign.

Johnson said: “The guy committed a crime and that is bad, but it is 18 years and he has more than served his time and he ought to be out. That is their view. It is about mercy rather than justice this time round.”

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “Obviously we are aware of William Burton and are providing ongoing consular assistance to him all the time.”

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com