Nov 23 - GSLP-Liberals Say GSD Position On Disability Is Incorrect
The GSLP/Liberals say they note the “unfortunate and nonsensical statements” made by the GSD during their press conference on matters relating to disability.
The party says that the GSD is fundamentally incorrect in their premise that the Disability Bill, which is modelled on the UN Convention of the Rights of the Disabled, does not recognise people whose disability does not arise from birth.
The Alliance argues that this is simply not the case and once again “demonstrates the deep lack of understanding and knowledge” of the GSD on this vital area of government policy.
A statement continued: “Further still, the GSD wrongly equate the rights that accrue under the new proposed legislation to an old rule, abolished by the GSLP/Liberals, that previously applied to the payment of a discretionary, non-statutory benefit in the form of the Disability Allowance.
“That the GSD cannot understand the Disability Bill and that they continue to confuse the definition of disability in law with the administrative arrangements for the payment of Disability Allowance is extremely worrying, as they clearly have not paid any attention to the reforms introduced by the GSLP/Liberals in office.
“To be clear, the Disability Bill contains the same definition of disability as was already contained in the Equal Opportunities Act; in other words, whether a disability arises from birth or otherwise is not a material factor in the law.
“The legal definition of disability under the law is totally separate from and unrelated to the issue of the criteria applied in the payment of the Disability Allowance. In an effort to criticise and denigrate the huge progress by the GSLP/Liberals in this area, the GSD announced a review on the legal definition of disability, which for the reasons just explained is a nonsense and how to allocate the disability allowance.
“It is clear that the GSD have either chosen to ignore and therefore have chosen to mislead the public, or are completely unaware that the Department of Social Security carried out a review of the previous procedures and criteria in place for granting the Disability Allowance.
“When the GSD were in office the criteria for granting Disability Allowance was:
(1) It needed to be severe; and
(2) The applicant needed to be disabled from birth
“While many years ago applications were considered by the Director of Social Security and members of the Special Needs Education Panel, the involvement of the latter was done away with by the GSD, and final decisions were taken solely by the Director of Social Security.
“We had a manifesto commitment to do away with this unfair regime. Applications for Disability Allowance are now considered by a Multi- Disciplinary Assessment Panel, composed of a variety of health and care professionals, which has been established by our administration, the panel then makes recommendations the Director. This panel ensures the timely clearance of applications for Disability Allowance and that all relevant factors are considered, whether a disability arises from birth is NOT a factor. The GSLP/Liberals have worked hard towards achieving a system that assesses individual needs, ensures consistency of decision-making and makes the whole process fair and objective. Whether the disability is from birth or arises later in life is now completely irrelevant.
“Further, apart from clearing all the historical applications inherited from the GSD and that were pending a decision, the GSLP/Liberals have increased the allowance in line with the annual increase of the General Index of Retail Prices. Prior to 2012, the last increase on Disability Allowance was in 2007! In August 2012 it was increased by 16% to reflect the rate of inflation since the last increase. This year, however, the rise of the Index of Retail Prices was 0.1% over the year and would therefore represent a very low increase if applied to Disability Allowance. As a result, it was decided to apply the same allowance increase of 1.6% as was implemented last year in August 2014. Accordingly, the full monthly rate of Disability Allowance for an adult has been increased from £367.12 to £372.99; whilst the rate for a child or young person under the age of 18 has been increased from £262.23 per month to £266.43.
“It must also be noted that under the GSD, Disability Allowance was completely removed immediately upon an individual commencing employment whereas the GSLP/Liberal Government introduced that the allowance be removed on a staggered basis and individuals in full time employment continue to retain 25% of the allowance and those in part time employment retain 62.5%
“It truly is the height of political hypocrisy for the GSD to criticise the Disability Allowance and its view, (which is mistaken), that it should be limited to people born with a disability, as that was the policy that the GSD applied when they were in office. It was the GSLP/Liberal Government who believed this to be grossly unfair and accordingly changed the GSD’s policy and procedure. As in so many other areas of public life, the GSLP/Liberals will not take any lectures from the GSD.”
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