The Condem Coalition.. 1 year in power.

At the DRP we believe in being inclusive. This blog is no exception and so we invite people and organisations from outside the party to contribute their knowledge and perspectives. Our first piece in this vein comes from Adam Lotun of WORKPLACE DISABILITY ADJUSTMENTS.

It provides, as the title suggests, a scathing review of the performance of the coalition on matters pertaining to the disabled and others most vulnerable in society.

When the ConDem Coalition took over the seat of power at Downing Street in 2010, there was a sense of foreboding as to what was to come from the Disabled Community. These fears and apprehensions have been well founded and justified, following the attacks against the Disabled Community with the policy of cutting 20% from the Department of Works and Pensions Budget and the published intent to remove millions of disabled claimants from the Incapacity Benefit and Disability Living Allowance Benefit figures. In bringing their plans to fruition, the Coalition Government has taken steps to harass and victimise the Disabled Community and create a of hate against one of the most vulnerable groups within UK Society. At the outset, there was a sustained agenda of misinformation to the public via the media by Government Ministers and Senior Civil Servants to portray people claiming these benefits as workshy scrounging layabouts and the pariah of the decent and honest citizens of our communities. Day after day, there would be soundbites and press releases giving details of benefit claimants being accused of fraudulently claiming disability benefits, which had an effect, over a period of time, to create a sense of anger and distrust specifically against disabled people to stigmatise them and their families.

The next step in the Coalition Government’s continued harassment and victimisation of the Disabled Community came about through the introduction of the Work Capability Assessment, carried out by their preferred contractors ATOS Healthcare. The Work Capability Assessment had been designed in such a way as to be so biased in the way it captured data, to ensure that not just possible fraudulent claimants were weeded out of the system, but also to capture honest claimants and move them from the Disability Living Allowance to Jobseekers Allowance and Employment Support Allowance and to remove support and gateway benefits that they were entitled to through the eligibility of Disability Living Allowance. The Work Capability Assessment has been labelled as “unfit for purpose” by Disability Charities and Organisations and also identified as being “flawed” by Professor Harrington to the Works and Pensions select Committee. However, despite these damning criticisms of the Work Capability Assessment, it has continued to be used by ATOS Healthcare, on behalf of the Department of Works and Pensions to deny much needed benefits, resources and specialist services to disabled claimants. Disabled Charities and Organisations, under the lead of the Disability Alliance, have now taken legal action against the Coalition Government about the use of the Work Capability Assessment in its current set-up. Complaints have also been made by the Equalities & Human Rights Commission and their counterparts in Scotland, Wales & N.Ireland, to the Joint Committee on Human Rights, as to the fact that the Coalition Government’s Workfare Policies, which include the use of the Work Capability assessment to identify disability claimants as being ‘fit for work’, failing under the Human Rights Act 1998 under Articles that prevent “Forced Labour”. The current Workfare Policies have also been claimed to fall foul of existing Disability Discrimination Act 1995/2005, the Equality act 2010, European Equal Treatment Framework Directives and the United Nations Convention of Rights of Disabled People that was ratified by the UK in 2009.

As if all of this harassment and victimisation against the Disabled Community was not enough, the Coalition Government also embarked on further moves to penalise people for being disabled by making moves to abolish the Disability Living Allowance Benefit and replacing it with a Personal Independent Payment, that is supposed to ensure that disability focused benefits are used by disabled people for the correct needs and requirements as dictated by the Department of Works and Pensions. This move has been called discriminatory by Disabled Charities & Organisations and has also led to the formation of Disability Activist Pressure Groups to challenge this unfair and unjust move against Disability Living Allowance. Disability Living Allowance was introduced under the Thatcher Administration to ensure that disabled people were able to meet the high costs of specialist services and resources and support as it had finally been recognised that living with a disability was far more expensive and complicated than living without a disability. Disability Living Allowance was designed to meet two specific areas of life for disabled people, Care and Mobility, and these two components were awarded in specific levels, Low, Medium and High Rate Care Components and Low and High Rate Mobility Components. The new Personal Independent Payments will not recognise anyone receiving Low rate Care or Low Rate Mobility Components, leaving millions of disabled people without access to the specialist services, support and resources that they need in order to manage their disabling conditions on a day to day basis. The Minister for Disabled People – Maria Miller MP has released eligibility criteria of the proposed Personal Independence Payment and, although these are still under consultation, it is clear that the eligibility criteria have been moulded into a format that will make impossible for disabled claimants to again access those specialist services, support and resources that they need in order to manage their disabling conditions on a day to day basis. This move will not only have a direct impact on the lives of disabled people, but also on the specialist business services that were created and developed to meet these specific needs and requirements and also employ many individuals delivering highly specialised services and support via small and medium sized businesses. There have already been a number of closures of such businesses and this has led to disabled people having to undertake tasks that have directly impacted on their conditions, causing their disabilities to worsen, some people to acquire new disabling conditions and a huge increase in mental health issues in a vulnerable section of our community and a further call on already stretched NHS Services.

Far from being a Government that is fair and honest and one that is trying to promote a ‘Big Society’, this Coalition of ConDems have shown themselves to be one that has no respect for the Common Man and is responsible for a number of vulnerable people being targeted by ignorant bigots, brining about a steep rise in disability hate crime figures and also to the increase in suicide numbers within the Disabled Community. As Ahsley Skinner MP challenged the Prime Minister – David Cameron on 11^th May 2011 at Prime Miniters Question Time at the Palace of Westminster, why is it that there were groups of disabled people marching outside the House and demonstrating against loss of benefits and rights that they had been entitled to before the current Administration came into Power?