The trailer by the National Audit Office suggested a colossal sting: disability fraud cost the Government almost #500m a year, they said yesterday. By the time the benefits roadshow opened last night, the Prime Minister's message that genuinely disabled claimants had nothing to worry about, had failed to appease the country's 6.5 million disabled claimants, whose reactions varied from fear to disappointment, and anger.
Everyone on the highest rate of Disability Living Allowance, who has not been assessed for some time will be re-examined as part of the Benefits Integrity Project - and most are terrified that their benefits will be cut. A reduction from the highest to the lowest rate of care allowance means a loss of #36.35 a week, something which has already happened to many people contacting the Disablement Income Group Scotland.
Their chairman, Jack McGregor, said: ''People do not just lose DLA, but sometimes Income Support as well. We have had cases where people have had their benefits cut, and then re-awarded when they have come to us in a state of shock.''
The principle of work rather than welfare is supported by most groups campaigning for disabled people - so long as work is available. Blind and partially-sighted people are among those most likely to work, but only one in four of those of working age have a job.
Even the better-paid ones need DLA to help with the extra costs they incur, said Joe Korner, benefits advice officer for the RNIB. ''Although many people will be able to travel to work on public transport, they have to take taxis if they go somewhere they don't know, and often have to pay for someone to provide help,'' he said.
He's furious at the National Audit's suggestion of widescale fraud on disability benefits, pointing out that it contradicts a statement by Baroness Hollis in the House of Lords last week that the review had not shown confirmed fraud by people on the higher rate of DLA.
Paul Heneachon is a self-employed disability consultant. He works three days a week for South Ayrshire Council, and as a cerebral palsy sufferer receives the higher rate of both the mobility and care rates of Disability Living Allowance, currently #34.60 and #49.50 a week.
''The mobility allowance pays for the lease off my car through motability, but it does not cover the deposit or the adaptations I need, because I cannot use my feet for driving.
''The care allowance is because I need help to dress and bath, and it allows my wife to care for me at home. Some people assume that if you go out to work, you don't need these benefits, but without them, I would not be able to go to work. As a wheelchair-user it is very difficult to use taxis and journeys by public transport are very difficult,'' he said.
It was only after his body failed to cope with the stress of being a retail manager that he was properly diagnosed as suffering from cerebral palsy, and began to claim benefits.
As chairman of his local disability forum, he knows many disabled people with a lot of expertise who are very keen to work, but prevented by problems of access or attitude of employers.
''Most employers just see the problems associated with disabled people, rather than the commitment they bring. I have middle- management qualifications and experience, and I have been registered with my local employment service for three years, but all the jobs I've had are because I got them myself,'' he said.
Wilma Stark, also on the highest rate of DLA, has just won a long battle to become a part-time student at Glasgow University (and can't resist confiding that she has just received a mark of 98% in Italian), but every day she fights a battle to maintain that positive attitude against the daily problems of a progressive neuro-muscular condition.
She would love to work, but is physically unable to return to her previous job as a radiographer. She uses her DLA to pay for someone to provide care and drive her to her classes, and says that without it she would simply not be able to study.
As a member of the Monklands Forum on Disability, she's particularly concerned about the negative effect of the 33-page form claimants have to complete for the Benefit Integrity Programme, which, she claims, forces people to label themselves as incontinent and unable to perform basic functions, when they are struggling to regain a positive outlook.
DIG Scotland chairman, Jack McGregor, says he knows of people who have felt suicidal after completing the form. He is also concerned that many people suggest they can do more than they are actually capable of.
''People tell me that they can walk 2-300 yards, but answer No when I ask them if they can walk the length of a football pitch. When asked personal questions about bathing, and toileting they say they can manage, but don't add they can't dry themselves or have to change their underpants several times a day,'' he added.
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