Work and Pensions written question – answered at on 6 September 2011.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for what reasons the higher rate mobility component of disability living allowance cannot be paid to severely visually impaired people who claim it for the first time when they are aged 65 and over.
Disability living allowance is intended to focus additional help with the extra cost of disability on people who have the very considerable disadvantage of being severely disabled earlier in life and who as a consequence have less opportunity, to work, earn and save compared to non-disabled people. It is normal for pensions and benefit schemes to contain different provisions for people at different stages of their lives.
Where someone is in receipt of the higher rate mobility component before their 65(th) birthday, it can remain in payment beyond age 65 as long as the conditions of entitlement remain satisfied. A new entitlement to the higher rate mobility component, under whatever provision, cannot be established after the age of 65 as to do so would not be consistent with the principle of this benefit which is to ensure that additional help is focussed to those who become disabled earlier in life.
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thomas glynn
Posted on 12 Sep 2011 1:55 am (Report this annotation)
The reasons given by the govt are ridiculous to a degree? There are occasions when people in early stages of their life could generate capital, depending in which profession they were in?
The older members of the public who did not have the benefit of high earning power are more likley to need monies to enable them to get about. many of the claiments at this moment in time are in this category,
the war years and up until the seventies didnt have the earning powers that we have today. It was only in the eighties that wages started to go up to the stage where the average man in the street could save to any degree? With fuel costs and taxi fares at the levels that they are now then the motorbility payments are not sufficient to allow any distances to be covered?
Since the motorbility allowance was first set up it was to allow the recipient to get out of the house?
The govt never expected the cost of fuel to increase to the levels that it now is? Motorbility users should be given discounts against the fuel cost and then it could keep down annual the payments to the users as it is mostly duty and VAT, all the goverment is doing is recycling the monies through the disabled to the treasurer via the petrol stations/