Protecting Britain's Pensioners

Labour want to cut Disability Living and Attendance Allowance for over 65s, wrecking their chances of living independently.

2.4 million elderly people need support to cope with a physical or mental disability.

These people rely on disability benefits - a third of them through the Disability Living Allowance for over 65s, and two thirds of them through the Attendance Allowance.

Labour want to cut these benefits, wrecking their chances of living independently and having the freedom to tailor their care to their needs.

Those over 65 who claim Disability Living Allowance currently get an average of £75 every week, and those who receive Attendance Allowance get an average of £60. This compares to an average pensioner’s income of around £250 a week.

This means that some of the most vulnerable pensioners in our country could lose around a quarter of their income - amounting to a loss of around £8 billion a year.

These cuts are unwise, unfair, and unkind. Our pensioners deserve better.

CAMPAIGN UPDATE:

The Government’s social care policy was plunged into disarray during the Conservative Opposition Day debate on Tuesday 8th December in the House of Commons on ‘disability benefits for the elderly’.

The Health Secretary has now tried to assert that there will now be “no cash losers” amongst current recipients of disability benefits in a future care and support system. This is at odds with the proposed changes to Attendance Allowance and Disability Living Allowance for the over 65s contained in the Government’s own Green Paper.

All of the preferred funding models in the Government’s Green Paper are underpinned by integrating Attendance Allowance and Disability Living Allowance for people over 65 into a future care and support system, with no guarantees that benefit recipients would receive the same level of ‘cash’ support.

The change of policy, announced unexpectedly on the floor of the House, has effectively holed the Government’s own Green Paper below the waterline as none of its funding models currently reflect this new policy.