Plaid Cymru Assembly Member Leanne Wood has voiced her concern over the effect on the Welsh disabled population of the UK Government choosing to scrap Attendance Allowance (AA). The abolition of AA is proposed in the English Green Paper, published in July 2009, as part of the shake-up of the social care system. And because the Welsh benefits system is under UK control, Wales would be unable to retain AA, currently paid out to 115,000 people, if the benefit is scrapped. Wales has a higher proportion of disabled people than England and receives around 8% of total AA funding, but under the new system, funding would be cut to 6% – a loss of £130 million per year. Ms Wood comments: ‘This would be a significant cut to the incomes of disabled pensioners. Our research shows that the impact (of abolishing AA) in Wales could be even worse, with tens of millions lost to the Welsh economy because of the way Wales is funded by the Government in London.’ Ms Wood’s concerns were seconded in the Welsh Oral Question session on 11 November by MP for Brecon Roger Williams, who then called on the Welsh Office to abandon the entire social care consultation process. Deputy Minister Gwenda Thomas has responded to Ms Wood in writing, stating that her belief that the abolition of AA will be strongly opposed in Wales and urging the importance of ensuring that Wales’ own social care Green Paper gives the opportunity for affected parties to represent their interests to the UK Government.
In October, health secretary Andy Burnham confirmed that AA’s sister benefit, Disability Living Allowance which is paid out to disabled people aged under 65, will definitely not be abolished to help fund the new ‘National Care Service’.
posted by Cheselden Continuing Care at
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