Double yellow plan could cause blue badge trouble

Government plans to ease the laws on parking on yellow lines could make it harder for disabled motorists to find spaces, according to worried campaigners.

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) suggested that the government could in future allow all motorists to park for free on double yellow lines for up to 15 minutes.

But disabled motorists with blue parking badges – who either cannot walk or have severe mobility impairments – are already allowed to park on single and double yellow lines to provide easier access to shops and other services.

Many of them cannot enter car parks because their vehicles are too high, or cannot use parking machines, so they have to be able to park on the street.

And they fear that allowing all motorists to use double yellow lines for short periods could make it much harder for them to find spaces, and so further restrict their mobility.

Helen Dolphin, director of policy and campaigns for Disabled Motoring UK, called on the government to rethink its plans.

She said: “Although we can understand the idea behind the proposal, we believe it would be better for councils to review whether such restrictions are needed and whether it would be better to implement short-term parking spaces instead.

“However, if yellow lines were removed this would reduce the amount of space available for disabled people so at the same time we would like to see more blue badge spaces as well.”

She said the charity had taken calls from worried members concerned that if the rules were relaxed, they would be unable to find on-street parking spaces.

One member told the charity: “Non-disabled people can park anywhere. I can’t!”

A DCLG spokeswoman said: “Ministers are looking at how we can reform rules on parking enforcement and parking wardens in a common sense way, and make it easier for people to pop into a local shop to buy a newspaper or a loaf of bread without negatively affecting access or traffic flow.”

News provided by John Pring at http://www.disabilitynewsservice.com

DWP lies to cover its tracks on mobility cuts

The government is facing mounting outrage after planning to restrict eligibility for support for people with the highest mobility needs, without any warning or consultation – and then lying about what it had done.

Anger has been growing following last week’s publication of the final assessment criteria that will decide eligibility for the new personal independence payment (PIP), the replacement for working-age disability living allowance (DLA).

Campaigners have now realised that the documents show the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) wants to tighten eligibility for the top – “enhanced” – rate of the mobility component of PIP.

The changes will – by 2015 – see 20,000 fewer people eligible for the enhanced rate than under the previous version of the PIP regulations, with this gap rising to 51,000 by 2018.

Previous drafts stated that a claimant who could not walk at least 50 metres would be entitled to the enhanced rate, making them eligible to lease a Motability vehicle. But this has now been slashed to just 20 metres.

There was no mention of the alteration in the Commons statement made last week by Esther McVey, the minister for disabled people, or in any of the government’s consultations on DLA reform.

There was some better news within the new criteria, with the government estimating that changes it had made to its draft plans – including the addition of a new “reading” activity – would see an increase in the number of people eligible for the daily living part of PIP.

Sir Bert Massie, who chaired the former Disability Rights Commission, said the alteration to 20 metres was “extremely disturbing” and “draconian”, while he said there had been “no discussion, no forewarning” from the government about the change.

He added: “Esther McVey says there has been consultation with disability groups. I would like to see details of every disability group that has called on the government to reduce the limit from 50 metres to 20 metres. I think it would be a very short list.

“We trust ministers to be accurate and truthful. I can’t reconcile their statements with the [new] regulations.”

He has already spoken to one disabled person who works for a government department, and can walk 20 but not 50 metres, and predicts he will now lose his Motability vehicle and be forced to take early retirement.

Helen Dolphin, director of policy and campaigns for Disabled Motoring UK, said it was “pretty outrageous” for the government to introduce changes “at the last minute” which had not been consulted on.

She said: “Our charity responded to all three consultations and at no point did it say 20 metres.

“The goalposts have been moved so far it seems the only people they want to get the benefit are wheelchair-users, but they aren’t the only people with severe mobility problems.”

Jane Young, coordinator of the WeAreSpartacus network, which has played a prominent role in analysing the impact of government cuts on disabled people, said she and fellow campaigners were “shocked and stunned” when they read the final PIP criteria and saw the change from 50 to 20 metres and realised how many people would lose vehicles they currently lease through the Motability scheme.

Young added: “With no car, they will be unable to go to work, get to the doctor’s, go shopping, take their kids to school or have any kind of social life.

“They will become isolated, their health will deteriorate and there will be significant demands on other public services, particularly health and social care.”

In the light of the new figures, WeAreSpartacus will now be revising its Reversing from Recovery report, which earlier this year calculated a likely 17 per cent reduction in the number of disabled people eligible for a Motability vehicle as a result of the move from DLA to PIP.

But despite the government’s own documents showing the number of people eligible for the enhanced mobility rate dropping by 51,000 by 2018, a DWP spokeswoman claimed: “It is not a tightening of the assessment – our modelling shows that, after this change, the number of people receiving the enhanced rate of the mobility component as a result of the ‘Moving around’ activity will be broadly the same.”

She added: “The intention of the criteria remains the same – to make sure support is targeted at those who need it most, by making sure those who receive the enhanced rate of the mobility component are those who face the greatest barriers to mobility.”

Despite Disability News Service then emailing her links to the relevant sections in her department’s own documents, she replied: “I’ve discussed with colleagues again and there’s nothing more to add to what I’ve explained below about the change you’ve outlined.”

The government documents also reveal that the number of people receiving PIP will be 608,000 lower by May 2018 – a drop of 28 per cent – than the number (2.182 million) who would have been receiving DLA without the government’s cuts and reforms.

The number eligible for the PIP enhanced mobility rate in 2018 will be 602,000, compared with 1.03 million on the upper mobility rate if DLA had not been reformed.

And by 2018, more than half a million current DLA claimants will have had their award decreased after being reassessed, while another 450,000 disabled people will lose their benefit completely in the transition from DLA to PIP.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

Classification flaws could mean missed swimming opportunity at London 2012

The lack of severely-impaired swimmers in the British team at this summer’s Paralympics could mean a missed chance to highlight sporting opportunities for other people with similar conditions, according to a leading athlete and activist.

Helen Dolphin is Britain’s fastest 200 metre freestyle swimmer in the S5 category, but because of flaws in the classification system missed out on qualification for London 2012 at the Paralympic trials.

British swimmers could only qualify for the games by clocking times that matched the third best time in the world for their classification – plus an extra two per cent – when the trials were held in March at the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park.

The world record for her S5 event is 45 seconds faster than her personal best (swimmers with physical impairments are categorised from S1 to S10, with S1 for those with the most severe impairments).

Dolphin, who is director of policy and campaigns for the charity Disabled Motoring UK, says she would have had to secure a time which was fractions of a second slower than that of swimming sensation Ellie Simmonds – who competes in the S6 category  – in order to qualify.

She said: “I believe that there are problems with the classification system, particularly in the lower categories where disabilities are so diverse.

“I don’t wish to take anything away from anybody’s achievements, but for the sake of future athletes with severe impairments I believe it is time for the classification system to be looked at properly.

“I really don’t believe it is possible for anybody with my impairment to swim anywhere near the GB qualification time. I’ve looked at the times of men with similar disabilities and even they are not close to this time.”

The classification system is the responsibility of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), while British Swimming, the governing body for British swimmers, selects the teams.

Dolphin fears that problems with the classification and selection system will mean very few swimmers with severe impairments will represent Britain at London 2012.

With so few British role models on show, she says, this could make it harder to encourage more people with impairments such as hers – she had her legs and hands amputated 15 years ago – to take up swimming.

She said: “Surely it is better to have somebody in these categories swimming there than nobody.

“The message should be that people – whatever their disabilities – can be involved in sport. And if you are number one in your category, surely you should be swimming at London 2012.”

The IPC said it could not comment on individual cases, but a spokesman said that Paralympic athletes were grouped by the “extent of activity limitation they have in common” rather than by their impairment or performance.

He said: “Because the extent of activity limitation and impairment is complex and has continuous variables, it is mathematically impossible to create a classification system in which classes only comprise athletes experiencing exactly the same degree of activity limitation.

“By furthering our understanding of both biomechanics of swimming and more accurate measuring of impairment, the boundaries of classes are subject to regular review.

“However, no system should systematically disadvantage more severely impaired [athletes] within a class.”

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

Campaign raises fears over ‘unsafe’ vehicle conversions

Some wheelchair-accessible vehicles (WAVs) are potentially unsafe for passengers or drivers travelling in their wheelchairs, and should never have been allowed on the roads, claim campaigners.

The campaigning user-led charity Disabled Motoring UK (DM UK) spoke out as it joined Constables Mobility – a leading conversion company – to launch a campaign calling for stricter testing of WAVs.

The No Compromises! campaign calls on the government to make it illegal for any WAV model to be allowed on the road without first undergoing strict “sled” testing.

It is also urging disabled customers to ask for a certificate of sled testing before they buy a WAV, and is calling on the Motability car scheme to stop leasing WAVs that are not “sled tested”.

Helen Dolphin, DM UK’s director of policy and campaigns, said: “I want Motability to take note and realise that this is something that should be done.

“They should stop accepting cars onto their scheme unless they have had all the proper checks.”

A sled test involves strapping a crash-test dummy into a wheelchair within the car, which is put through head-on collisions to check that the belts and their fixtures are strong enough to withstand an accident and keep the wheelchair-user secure.

DM UK and Constables say the extra test is vital because of the significant and complex changes made to cars when they are converted to become wheelchair-accessible.

Figures on accidents involving WAVs are not collected so it is impossible to say how many wheelchair-users may have been injured or even killed because of problems with the conversions of their vehicles.

But Dolphin said: “It is amazing that vehicles are being sold that may not be safe for the drivers and their disabled passengers, and we feel strongly that this must stop.

“Until a car has had that kind of test, there is no guarantee that it will hold or restrain a wheelchair-user if they have had an accident.”

She added: “I don’t want to drive anybody out of business but at the end of the day the most important thing here is disabled people’s safety.”

A Motability spokeswoman said that standards for all their conversions were governed by European Union law and backed by industry bodies such as the Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle Converters Association (WAVCA).

She said: “All WAVs supplied to Motability customers are compliant with EU and UK regulations, in place at the time of the vehicle registration, as well as adopting any additional standards agreed and required by WAVCA.”

But when asked how many Motability vehicles had not been sled tested, and whether Motability would take any action to ensure all vehicles were sled tested, she refused to comment.

Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat local transport minister, said he welcomed DM UK’s “commitment to ensuring wheelchair-users travel in safety” and shared that objective.

He added: “All vehicles need to meet a range of safety rules to enable them to operate on the road. This ensures that good levels of protection are offered to the driver and passengers.”

But he said: “We have seen no convincing evidence to show that the approval system for converted vehicles needs changing, or that road safety is being compromised as a result of vehicles being modified post-registration. However, we will continue to monitor this closely with industry.”

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

Minister steps back from new scooter laws

The government appears to have backed away from introducing new laws that could have forced users of mobility scooters and powered wheelchair to take out insurance, undergo training and take proficiency tests.

Two years ago, the previous government launched a consultation on possible reforms aimed at modernising the law on mobility vehicles.

The consultation document pointed to a “growing concern” about safety – particularly with scooters – although it said evidence suggested a “very low” number of injuries.

Responding to the subsequent consultation – which ended in May 2010 – Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat transport minister, said he would be meeting with “interested parties” to review the evidence on insurance, training, and the possibility of mandatory eye tests for users of class three scooters – those that travel at up to eight mph.

He said: “I am conscious of the crucial role such vehicles play in some people’s lives and that will be an important factor in deciding what further actions, if any, to take.”

Helen Dolphin, director of policy and campaigns for Disabled Motoring UK, said: “Our policy is that insurance should be compulsory because of the kind of problems people get into when they do not have insurance, such as injuring other people.”

But she said it would not be easy to introduce compulsory insurance, as there would probably also need to be some kind of driving test and licensing system for scooter-users.

She added: “We are very much in favour of training. People need to take responsibility for themselves and should seek training if they feel they need it.”

Dolphin said Disabled Motoring UK would continue to call on the government to introduce compulsory insurance.

Baker also said he had decided to make no changes to maximum permitted speeds or the current minimum age of 14 for using a class three vehicle.

But he did announce that the government would replace the outdated term “invalid carriage” in legislation.

And following recommendations by the transport select committee, Baker said the Department for Transport was now working with the industry to develop a kite-marking scheme that would let disabled people know in advance if they would be able to use their scooters on buses and trains.

Dolphin said she would be in favour of a kite-marking scheme if it helped cut the large number of scooter-users who are unfairly refused entry onto public transport.

Baker also announced the publication of new guidance for users of mobility scooters and powered wheelchairs on the road.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

Disabled people ‘must play part’ in fighting blue badge abuse

Disabled people must play a part in efforts to cut the misuse and abuse of blue parking badges, according to leading activists.

New measures to cut abuse of the disabled people’s blue badge parking scheme came into force on 1 January, with the introduction of an electronically-produced badge, which is harder to forge or copy than the previous handwritten, cardboard version.

To pay for improvements to the scheme, the maximum fee that local authorities in England can charge for a badge has risen from £2 to £10, the first increase for 30 years.

And a new central database – another measure campaigners have been demanding for years – will allow checks on the badges to be made from anywhere in the country.

But disabled people’s details will only be added to the database – which is being run by a private company – as they are issued with one of the new badges over the next three years.

The government hopes changes to the scheme will cut its running costs by up to £20 million a year.

Another measure, to be introduced from April, will see councils forced to use more independent mobility assessments – instead of asking GPs to carry them out – of applicants who do not qualify automatically for a badge.

Helen Dolphin, director of policy and campaigns for Disabled Motoring UK, welcomed the changes, which she said would make the scheme “fit for the 21^st century”, and would make it easier for traffic wardens to detect forged badges, and genuine badges that were being misused.

But she said: “This is only going to work if disabled people themselves start taking more responsibility for their own badges.”

She said enforcement and awareness-raising of how the badges should be used were key to cutting abuse, while councils must ensure their parking attendants checked badges and took legal action against those guilty of fraud and misuse.

Last August, Disabled Motoring UK released the results of a survey which showed that many local authorities were doing nothing to combat blue badge fraud and misuse.

The survey found that, across the 79 local authorities in England and Wales that provided answers to a Freedom of Information Act request, the average annual number of prosecutions for fraud and misuse of blue badges was just 2.9 in 2009-10, and 4.5 in 2010-11. Most councils carried out no prosecutions at all.

Dolphin added: “The charity’s policy is that the badge should be free. However, it has been £2 since the 1980s and if this increased charge means the badges are much more secure and disabled people can park more easily, it is a burden we are going to have to bear.”

Mary Grace, chair of The Blue Badge Network, which represents blue badge-holders, also welcomed many of the improvements.

But she said she was concerned about the introduction of the new mobility assessments.

She said: “I think there will be a lot of people who should be getting the badge who will just be turned down flat.

“We will be asking our members to let us have their thoughts as they go through the system over the next three years.”

She agreed with Dolphin that badge-holders needed to take more responsibility for how their badges were used, and added: “Blue badge-holders ourselves can abuse the system.”

Other improvements to the scheme mean disabled people in England and Scotland can now apply for and renew their badges online, using the government’s Directgov website, while those in Wales will be able to apply online from April.

Badge-holders in England can also use a new national helpline number, 0844 463 0213, and will be able to report lost and stolen badges through the website from April.

Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat transport minister, said he believed the new badge would be “as secure as a banknote”.

He added: “Motorists who pretend to be disabled to get some free parking are frankly disgraceful.

“They prevent real blue badge-holders from using parking bays designed for those genuinely in need and they cheat the vast majority of road-users who play fair when they park their cars.”

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

Motability faces anger over five-mile limit

The Motability car scheme is facing anger from disabled customers over new restrictions that will make it harder for them to find personal assistants (PAs) to drive their vehicles.

The announcement of tighter new rules in October followed a series of inaccurate and hostile media reports attacking the disabled people’s car scheme, which is only open to those claiming the higher rate mobility component of disability living allowance.

Initial anger with the new rules focused on Motability’s decision to stop disabled people paying higher advance payments through the scheme in order to obtain more expensive vehicles. This will restrict customers to cars worth less than £25,000.

But disabled people have now been contacting Motability to complain about another new rule, which will mean the scheme will only accept named drivers – people the disabled customer can choose to drive their car, such as their PAs – living within five miles of their home.

The new limit – previously set at 25 miles – will start coming into force next year when current leases run out and need to be renewed.

Motability has argued that “95 per cent of nominated drivers live either at the same address, or within five miles, of the disabled person, and so the vast majority of our customers will not see any impact from these changes”.

But Jaspal Dhani, chief executive of the UK Disabled People’s Council, said many disabled people were concerned that the new rules could see them being forced to look for new PAs.

He said: “This is about disabled people being able to choose who they employ and how they employ those individuals.”

Helen Dolphin, director of policy and campaigns for Disabled Motoring UK, said she had been “inundated” with letters and emails from members concerned about the impact of the new measure.

She said many members believed the clampdown was a “backlash to negative press stories”.

Dhani agreed. He said: “I suspect this is linked to the recent tabloid stories, the claims that disabled people have very expensive cars and that family members end up driving them.

“I think Motability should investigate such cases, but I don’t think it warrants a blanket policy that is going to affect very many people who use Motability vehicles to meet their everyday needs.”

Dolphin will be meeting Motability to discuss the proposed changes to the rules later this month.

The campaign group Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) has already written to Motability about the changes.

Linda Burnip, a member of the DPAC steering group, said in her letter that the new rule could breach the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and would be particularly difficult for disabled people in rural areas, who would now find it “difficult if not at times impossible” to recruit PAs.

Family members, who may also be named drivers, might also live more than five miles away, she said.

Michelle Daley, a leading disability equality consultant and Motability customer, who uses PAs to drive her wheelchair-accessible vehicle, said: “There are so many problems with this. It is going to affect thousands of disabled people.

“You can’t guarantee that you will be able to employ someone only five miles from where you live.”

She was unsure how the changes would affect her, because she has an “open” insurance policy through Motability, rather than having to submit named drivers. But of her five PAs, none of them lives within five miles of her home.

A Motability spokeswoman said it would “consider requests” to include drivers outside the five mile range “where this is essential to support the disabled person’s mobility needs”, and that it had always been the intention to “allow exceptions to any policy where appropriate”.

She added: “We are listening carefully to feedback and concerns and will continue to tailor our communications accordingly.”

She insisted that the changes to the rules were not linked to tabloid coverage of the Motability scheme.

And she said that Motability customers with open insurance policies would be “unaffected” by the five-mile rule, although such policies were “only available to customers in exceptional circumstances”.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

Motability rule change means disabled people must drive cheaper cars

Disabled people have reacted angrily after they were told they will no longer be able to drive vehicles worth over £25,000 through the Motability car scheme.

The announcement of tighter new rules by Motability follows a series of inaccurate, hostile and disablist media reports attacking the disabled people’s car scheme.

Earlier this month, campaigners complained to the press watchdog after the Mail on Sunday suggested there was widespread abuse of the scheme.

The paper claimed that more than 3,000 families of people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – which it called “naughty child syndrome” – were “abusing” the benefits system by receiving “free” cars through the scheme.

It claimed that work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith was “determined to stop what he regards as abuse of free cars for the disabled”, and said the Motability website “openly advises claimants how to use the benefit to get luxury cars”. The newspaper later published a series of corrections to its story.

Duncan Smith is attempting to force through a controversial package of welfare reforms, including proposals to cut spending on disability living allowance (DLA) by a fifth.

In a statement announcing the rule changes, Motability’s chair, Lord Sterling, mentioned “recent press comments” which had focused on customers obtaining “prestige” cars through the scheme.

He stressed that only five per cent of cars leased through the scheme had a recommended retail price of more than £25,000 – those available only with an advance payment of more than £2,000.

The average car obtained through the Motability scheme is worth £19,500, far less than the UK average of over £28,000. Motability vehicles can only be obtained by disabled people claiming the higher rate mobility component of DLA.

Helen Dolphin, director of policy and campaigns for the user-led charity Disabled Motoring UK, said she was “angry” and “disappointed” with the new rule, and accused Motability of bowing to media pressure.

She said: “I feel they have listened too much to the negative press reports and reacted to them in this way.

“I am saddened by it because it is restricting the choice of the car for disabled people.”

Dolphin also pointed out that the new rule would not save the government any money on its benefits bill.

She said: “It is not going to save a penny. It is going to limit people who have chosen to drive a slightly more expensive car.

“If the government think that restricting vehicles for disabled people is going to save money, they have clearly misunderstood what the scheme is about.”

She said there was a “gross misunderstanding” about the scheme in the media and among the public, who failed to realise that if a disabled person wants to obtain a prestige car they have to pay a much higher advance payment.

She said she would not in future be able to lease the Motability car she currently drives, because it was worth more than £25,000.

She said: “It was a completely personal choice because I do a lot of mileage and I wanted a car that could reach reasonable speeds and was safe to drive.

“Is it outrageous for me to want to have a nice car? I work full-time and I put my money towards it. What is outrageous about it? I don’t get it.”

But Dolphin said she did agree with some of the other changes introduced by Motability, such as only accepting named drivers – people the disabled customer can choose to drive their car – who live within five miles of the DLA claimant. Previously this was set at 25 miles.

Motability also said that from January 2012 it would no longer accept named drivers under the age of 21, unless they lived with the disabled customer.

And Lord Sterling said Motability would “invest further in our capacity to investigate and act on allegations of abuse, as well as piloting new vehicle technologies to monitor how cars are used where we perceive the greatest risk of abuse”.

Asked whether Motability had bowed to government and media pressure, a spokeswoman declined to comment.

She also declined to comment when asked whether Motability believed the new maximum price would actually cut government spending on disability benefits.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

BBC apologises for Top Gear’s parking bay gaff

The BBC has apologised “unreservedly” after presenters on the popular motoring show Top Gear were filmed parking in two accessible parking bays.

The episode aired this week (31 July) on BBC2 and featured presenters Jeremy Clarkson and James May test-driving two electric vehicles.

At one point in the segment, they stopped in the carpark of a farm shop in Lincolnshire, and the cars were both clearly seen to be parked in two accessible bays.

The charity Disabled Motoring UK (DM UK) – part of the Baywatch campaign, which was set up to tackle such abuse – received scores of emails and phone calls from angry members after the programme was aired.

Helen Dolphin, DM UK’s director of policy and campaigns, said disabled people were right to be angry, because of the widespread misuse of accessible bays.

Dolphin said: “Obviously people do get upset by it, because it is such a big problem. They do not want to see people on TV abusing those bays and leaving others to think it is OK.

“Joe Bloggs down the road sees them doing it and thinks, ‘Top Gear do it, so I’m going to do it.’”

Andy Wilman, Top Gear’s executive producer, said in a blog on the show’s website that the production team had secured permission from the carpark’s owner to use the accessible bays, because they provided “a quiet spot to film in”.

Wilman claimed that both Clarkson and May had expressed “deep concern” to the crew about using the bays, because of “the disrespectful impression it would convey”, but “only capitulated when we assured them the parking had been approved by the owner, and that the disabled bay markings would not appear on television”.

He added: “This was our fault, not theirs, and we unreservedly apologise to all the viewers we have upset as a consequence.”

A Top Gear spokeswoman added: “There were other disabled spaces available, and of course had anyone needed to park in one of the spaces occupied by Top Gear, we would have moved immediately.”

Dolphin has now suggested to Top Gear that the show take part in the next national Baywatch survey of bay abuse in supermarket carparks, which will take place next year.

Meanwhile, DM UK has released the results of a survey which shows many local authorities are doing nothing to combat fraud and misuse connected with the disabled people’s blue badge parking scheme.

The survey found that, across the 79 local authorities in England and Wales that provided answers to a Freedom of Information Act request, the average annual number of prosecutions for fraud and misuse of blue badges was just 2.9 in 2009-10, and 4.5 in 2010-11.

Most councils carried out no prosecutions at all, but a small handful appeared to be taking the issue seriously, such as Birmingham City Council with 124 prosecutions in 2010-11 and Enfield council in London with 75.

Dolphin said: “We hear from our members how difficult parking is becoming and by people using stolen, fake or ‘borrowed’ badges the situation is only getting worse.

“By taking action, local authorities will be sending out a strong message that this crime will no longer be tolerated and those found using a badge that does not belong to them will be suitably punished.”

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

Government ‘used Motability claims to stir up hostility’

The government has been accused again of stirring up hostility against disabled people and running a “deliberate smearing campaign”, after stories appeared in national newspapers about alleged abuse of the Motability car scheme.

A Sunday Times “investigation” claimed friends and relatives were misusing the cars that disabled people have obtained through the Motability scheme, while the Daily Mail described this misuse as a “scam”.

The Sunday Times claimed government officials were concerned that the disabled people’s car scheme had “mushroomed out of control” and was “so generous that it encourages people to submit spurious claims or to try to keep a benefit to which they are no longer entitled”.

The Mail said the government “hopes that its planned reform of the disability living allowance (DLA) will help stamp out such abuses by introducing closer scrutiny of the system and considering whether Motability is the best option for everyone”.

Many disabled activists are convinced that the source of the story was within the government, which they say is trying to soften up the public for cuts to spending on DLA and its replacement with a new personal independence payment (PIP).

Anne Novis, a leading disability hate crime campaigner, said the story “smacks of government preparing to withdraw DLA and Motability schemes or tighten them exclusively to those they deem ‘severely disabled’”.

She added: “Any scheme can be abused but the fact that this and other statements about disabled people’s benefits, allowances and support being misused are coming out from Whitehall almost every week indicates a deliberate smearing campaign against us as disabled people.

“We are cursed, reviled, demeaned at every turn because people now think they have ‘permission’ from government to treat us this way.”

Novis has given evidence to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) inquiry into disability-related harassment that disabled people’s cars have been “repeatedly vandalized” and set on fire over the last few years.

She added: “For the government to now incite such misunderstandings about the Motability schemes will incite more hostility towards us yet again.”

Helen Dolphin, director of policy and campaigns for Disabled Motoring UK (DM UK), said she also believed the stories would stir up further hostility towards disabled people.

She said she said she would be “absolutely appalled” if the government was behind the stories.

Last week, DM UK completed its Alps Challenge, in which disabled volunteers recreated a 1,500 mile journey across the Alps in 1947 on a petrol-driven tricycle to highlight the importance of providing mobility support to disabled people.

Dolphin said: “The Alps Challenge was to demonstrate how far we had come since 1947, with fantastic adaptations and the fact that we do have Motability and DLA to pay for it, but it seems when you read articles like this that people would like us to step backwards to when we were pushing people around in little blue trikes.”

Motability said its scheme was abused only by “a small minority” of people, while the “overwhelming majority of our customers are hugely deserving individuals with real physical impairments”.

In 2010/11, about 800 people were removed from the scheme for abuse, out of 580,000 customers – less than 0.14 per cent.

Another 500 people were prevented from joining or renewing their agreements, but Motability said many of these were due to driving convictions and so unrelated to misuse.

A DWP spokeswoman said: “Motability is an independent charity which is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the scheme and DWP has regular reviews to monitor its performance.

“Motability provides a vital service for disabled people.  However, any misuse of taxpayers’ money is unacceptable and it is essential that we get the gateway to receipt of DLA right, which is why we are introducing the PIP.”

But when asked whether the story originated from the DWP and was another attempt to soften up the public in advance of cuts and reforms of DLA, she declined to comment.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com