Aspire is delighted with the reversal of plans to remove the mobility component of DLA for people in residential care. 

In the October 2010 Spending Review, the Government announced that it intended to remove the mobility component of the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to people who live in residential care. These changes were due to be implemented through the Welfare Reform Bill, which is currently being debated in the House of Lords.

Since the original announcement, Aspire has worked tirelessly to lobby decision makers and meet with MPs, to spell out what this proposed change would mean to people with spinal cord injury who live in care homes.

In Aspire’s response to a Government consultation on Disability Living Allowance, we further emphasised the importance of this provision and what it means to people who live in residential care.

An independent review led by Lord Low was commissioned to look into this issue and reported in November 2011, that they “found no evidence of overlap in the support offered by the mobility component of DLA and that offered by local authorities and providers, all of which play a distinct part in meeting disabled people’s mobility needs.”

We urged the Government to take the findings of the Low Review on board and ensure that disabled people living in state-funded residential care receive mobility payments on the same basis as disabled people receiving care in their own home.

We welcome the official announcement today from the Minister for Disabled PeopleMaria Miller MP that the Government will bring forward an amendment to the Welfare Reform Bill so that disabled people living in residential care will continue to have their additional mobility needs met through Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and the Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

There is still progress to be made on the Welfare Reform Bill and Aspire will continue to lobby on behalf of those with spinal cord injury but today’s news is a great start.