The second reading of the Welfare Reform Bill resulted in a heated debate that highlighted real concerns for thousands of disabled people throughout the country.

If radical change to the Government's proposals to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) with Personal Independence Payments (PIP) isn't agreed, the independence and quality of life for of thousands could be drastically affected.

The current proposals concerning eligibility criteria for this important benefit suggest altering the qualifying period from three months to six months.

The Government's stated aim continues to be to save £1.45 billion in the Disability Benefits budget by 2014/15.

The changes outlined are taking place against a background of an arbitrary 20% cut in spending when the assessed fraud level is at a 0.5%. Groups representing a whole range of disabilities for which DLA is available, such as Headway, a charity representing the interests of the head injured, consider that the affects of the reform could be devastating. 

Headway estimates that 500,000 people aged between 16 and 74 are living with long-term disabilities as a result of an acquired brain injury suffered after a road traffic accident, accident at work, or after an assault.

Other charities representing those who've suffered a traumatic amputation or congenital limb loss, such as Limbcare, are particularly worried that the Bill still has assessment criteria that, for example, look less at the 'ability to walk' and more at the ability to 'get around'.

The current Bill suggests that somebody using a wheelchair independently has the ability to 'get around', but doesn't consider the costs of getting or maintaining manual aids such as equipment used to transfer from a wheelchair to a chair, and takes no account of aids such as cars or scooters that a disabled person may need to live an active and independent life. These are aids that DLA benefit currently supports.

There's also ongoing concern that we share on behalf of our clients, that the new benefits take little account of a person's cognitive disability when considering their ability to 'get around'. A physically able individual can still be considerably incapacitated by cognitive problems, making them unable to plan, start, or complete a journey without continual support. The concern is that PIP may only provide enough support for disabled people to 'survive', rather than allowing them enough to get some quality of life and to 'live'.

The proposal to extend the qualifying period before benefits are paid from three to six months would hit the newly disabled very hard. It's the first months of a disability when, for example someone has lost a limb or is suffering from the affects of a head injury or a serious illness, that the costs of managing are at there highest as the person's income falls. Without PIP entitlement, the affected person's carer can't qualify for carer's allowance.

Whilst a legal claim can be brought, the affects of a delay in obtaining benefits can be devastating. The Rehabilitation Code can be used to get immediate treatment with payments on account to cover ongoing costs, but if there's no claim or if there are liability or insurance issues, these can take time to resolve.

Whilst it's generally accepted that an overhaul of the DLA form is necessary and that face-to-face assessment by qualified and objective professionals would help, the Government needs to accept that we're living longer with our disabilities, and so the system will be more expensive, rather than being ripe for the cuts in expenditure that the current changes are designed to achieve.

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