THERE was a conflicting moment for disability benefit campaigners when they had to welcome an announcement from Tory minister Esther McVey.
In a statement to parliament last week, Ms McVey, Theresa May’s newly appointed Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, revealed the Government will not fight a recent court defeat over disability benefits.
The ruling at the High Court meant that people with mental health conditions which cause them “psychological distress” should have that considered by benefits assessors.
The rules were changed in March last year meaning people suffering a whole range of conditions including anxiety, schizophrenia, PTSD , autism and dementia, could be expected to make and plan journeys without their condition being taken into account.
Ms McVey said the ruling wouldn’t be challenged and those who had lost out would get backdated payments. Now this was unsettling for some activists for whom it is no exaggeration to say she is a hate figure.
In her previous incarnation as minister “for” disabled people (the quote marks are mine, because the title appeared so Orwellian), she appeared to deliberately mislead MSPs about he impact of the bedroom tax on disabled children and their families. She encouraged media stories wrongly suggesting there had been a surge in applications for Disability Living Allowance from people rushing to claim before it was abolished.
She praised foodbanks, arguing it was “right” that many people were using them. And the Court of Appeal ruled she deliberately closed the Independent Living Fund, despite knowing the “very real adverse consequences [it] would have on the lives of many of the more severely disabled”.
So her first major statement in her new role was something of a surprise. Maybe it is a sign of better relationships ahead.
But the announcement didn’t just take the biscuit, it hoovered up the Cabinet’s entire annual supply. “Our intention has always been to ... provide the best support to claimants with mental health conditions,” she said.
Really? The High Court said this rule was “blatantly discriminatory” and the Government has suffered regular court defeats over the way it expresses such warm intentions. In 2013 the Court of Appeal ruled that people with mental health problems were disadvantaged by a system which took no account of fluctuating conditions. The Government said it would appeal. Other court defeats have rejected rules which say disabled people must agree to work unsupervised, even where the consequences could be potentially catastrophic. It was reported last summer that the DWP spent £39 million in 2016 alone fighting cases against sick or disabled people who had appealed its decisions.
So, the Government’s decision will be welcomed, especially by some 16,000 Scots who may now get backpayments. But is this a new dawn for a minister and a Government whose policies have been a “human catastrophe” for disabled people (that was the UN’s verdict)? Don’t hold your breath.
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