Thursday, December 01, 2011

Relief as Government does the right thing on DLA for care home residents

Most Liberal Democrats were pretty horrified when George Osborne announced he was stopping disabled care home residents from claiming the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance.

We passed a motion asking for this to be reinstated at our Spring Conference in March - and today, it's been announced that, finally, this has happened.

This is another example of how the Liberal Democrats can influence things within the Government. It doesn't happen immediately, but I know that this has come about because Steve Webb and other Liberal Democrat ministers have been championing the cause.

And if you want to have some idea what the difference this will make - if it had gone ahead, people like Ana Alicia Bryant, writing here for Leonard Cheshire Disability, would literally have been trapped in her home.

Let's just hope that now the motion we passed on Employment and Support Allowance finds its way into the Welfare Reform Bill. The thing about being in this Government is that our work of taking the sting out of the Tories will never, ever be done. We have to be ever vigilant - and, as a party, stand up and fight when necessary to make sure our voice is heard. The announcement today gives us hope that we can change things.

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