Little for people with learning disabilities in Budget
26 July 2012
Chancellor George Osborne's third Budget contained little good
news for people with learning disabilities, and will have
heightened worries over benefits for many. First, the good news:
the personal tax allowance limit has been raised to £9,205 from
April 2013, which in real terms amounts to £170 more a year for a
basic rate taxpayer. For some people with learning disabilities in
work, it will mean they have more in their pay packet - although
many are only part-time so are already below the tax threshold. The
same applies to family carers, who are also often on low wages. But
this will benefit everyone who does not pay 40% tax. Osborne did
confirm that a white paper on social care is forthcoming, which was
already public knowledge. However, frustratingly, he didn't confirm
when it would be published or hint at what the content would be.
The white paper has long been slated for 'spring', but as we all
know with Government papers, 'spring' could be any time between now
and about September. There was also no announcement on the
possibility of extra funding for social care. Earlier this month a
group of charities and service providers wrote an open
letter calling for more funding for social care, warning that
without it reform will fail. But this call seems to have been
ignored. Perhaps that particular rabbit is being kept in the hat
until the white paper is published, although I doubt that. It looks
like social care will have to carry on trying to do more with less
and deal with reform - and all its attendant costs - as well.
Worryingly, Osborne announced that that if reductions in
departmental spending continue as they have further welfare savings
of £10 billion more will need to be made by 2016. I take this to
mean that benefits will be squeezed, which could mean eligibility
criteria for sickness benefits such as disability living
allowance/personal independence payment (PIP) being ramped up. The
eligibility criteria for PIP, which is due to be introduced next
year, is still to be decided, and this announcement makes me wonder
if they may be tougher than originally thought. However, this is
just speculation. The Treasury said to the BBC it is "very early
days", and the chancellor's remarks just "set out the scale of the
challenge", so they don't know how the further savings will be made
either. But whatever happens, it means that worries over benefits
and future reform and provision of social care services will
continue.
Comments
Write a Comment
Comment Submitted