For disabled people in Islington the Paralympic spirit all but disappeared this week when as many as 2,300 of those on disability benefit were told to brace for a nasty shock next Autumn.
The Council has claimed it wants “to build on the success of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and deliver a true lasting legacy to its residents”.
But at a Communities Review Committee meeting this week it was revealed that the new system of disability benefit payments that will to be gradually implemented from October next year is not being explained to residents.
Council and NGO support groups, the very people who are supposed to watch out for disabled claimants, are refusing to inform recipients about the impending changes, the committee heard.
The switch is from the current system of Disability Living Allowance to a more harshly judged scheme of Personal Independence Payments.
Of the 7,700 current DLA claimants in the borough, 20% will have their cash withdrawn if the Department for Work and Pensions is to make the savings required for its new budget.
Rahel Geffen, the Chief Executive of Disability Action in Islington, said: ““We’re not telling people about PIP at the moment, because we don’t want to raise people’s anxieties.”
Cllr Theresa Debono questioned this approach, saying: “They don’t change people over from DLA to PIP alphabetically, so we don’t know who is going to be hit in October. it’s going to be a concern whether you start worrying now or then. Frankly I’d rather be prepared.”
The Department for Work and Pensions’ reforms will also withdraw funding for the Independent Living Fund, which is used to provide care for people with the most severe physical impairments.
“92 people receive that in Islington,” Cllr Debono said. “You’re looking at people who get between £20k-40k a year, people who need 24hr care, and there is an incredible worry about what is going to happen to them.
“People just don’t really know what is facing them. It’s going to be disastrous when it hits us all head on.”
