Public Policy eNews - 20 April 2009

Welcome to another issue of the Legion's policy eNewsletter. We hope you find this a useful source of updates on government policy, Legion campaigning and welfare benefit developments.

Politics and Policy

The report finds that the number of beneficiaries who could be seeking assistance from the Legion will increase to around 20,000 by 2014 – a four-fold increase. This is due to various factors, including an ageing population, increasing incidence of chronic illness combined with decreasing income and rising living costs.

The Legion will be considering how awareness of the benefits and allowances can be raised through our existing networks in Spain and whether extra resources might be required. The findings of this report will be used to ensure that the UK ex-Service community in Spain get full access to the services they are entitled to.

An accompanying document, Caring in Spain: Knowledge bank, has been produced to provide the detailed research which informed the analysis and supports the study’s findings, conclusions and recommendations.  

Return to Rebate
The Legion's Return to Rationing? campaign received a boost recently when a Bill to rename Council Tax Benefit (CTB) received its first reading in Parliament. The campaign calls for it to be called a rebate instead of a benefit. We believe this would help to increase the take up rate amongst older veterans.

Labour MP Joan Ryan introduced the Council Tax Rebate Bill in the House of Commons on 30th March. She highlighted that whilst CTB has the highest number of potential claimants, it has the lowest take-up level of any state benefit. Nearly half of all pensioners who qualify for CTB do not make a claim with almost £1.5 billion going unclaimed each and every year. The Bill will receive a second reading on 26 June although it is unlikely to be enacted without Government support.

Housing for injured Service men and women
The Government has issued guidance to local councils instructing them to award additional preference in their housing allocation schemes to those seriously injured during Service. This change should in practice help injured personnel access housing adapted for disabled people. The Government by doing this is delivering one of its commitments from last year’s Command Paper. 

Bringing health and social care together
The Department of Health has announced a £4 million pilot scheme to see how health and social care services can be brought together to increase the quality of care on offer to patients. The pilots will run in 16 sites, each of which will respond to particular local health needs, including dementia, care for the elderly and substance misuse.

Launch of Care Quality Commission
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) was launched on 1 April, bringing the regulation of health and adult social care together under one roof. The CQC replaces the Commission of Social Care Inspection, the Healthcare Commission and the Mental Health Act Commission. One of its main aims is to provide common quality standards across health and social care services for the first time and focus on how well health and social care services work together.

Welfare 

Exporting DLA, Attendance Allowance and Carer's Allowance
New guidance has been issued by the DWP in relation to claimants exporting their entitlement to the care component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Attendance Allowance or Carer’s Allowance when moving within the European Economic Area or to Switzerland. This follows the October 2007 judgment of the European Court of Justice in which the UK government was found to have acted incorrectly in 1992 when it listed these three benefits as non-exportable.  

Blind people to become entitled to the higher rate of DLA
The Government has announced that as of 2011 blind people will be entitled to the higher rate of DLA. This will provide an estimated 20,000 severely visually impaired people with an additional payment worth £29 a week or £1,508 a year at current rates.

How to find help during the recession
To assist people and businesses suffering during the recession the Government has produced a booklet that outlines the practical help available. 'Real help now: for people and businesses' explains how people can get help with homes, jobs and finances. The booklet includes details of where to get help when having difficulty paying a mortgage, finding employment or training, or coping with debt. It also offers help for small businesses with cashflow problems, larger businesses in need of working capital, pensioners and other people on a low income.

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