I do not have examples of good practice in the Glasgow area, as I am a welfare rights worker and am not familiar with what is happening in education, leisure and so on. However, I would like to highlight something.
Children are feeling the impact of some of the changes—you are correct to say that a sanctioned family is a sanctioned family, and the child in that family will bear the brunt of that, too. I note that, as far as the DLA changes are concerned, a disabled 16-year-old child who claims DLA will need to claim the personal independence payment and, in all likelihood, the level of personal independence payment that will be payable after their 16th birthday will be less than the amount that was payable prior to their 16th birthday. Given that resources in households are pooled and shared, that will mean a loss to the whole household.
12:00
A further barrier is the migration from DLA to personal independence payments, which affects not only children who are turning 16 but adults who are on DLA. In what is an unrealistically cumbersome system, an individual will be contacted by letter and invited to make a phone call to indicate that they wish to make a claim for a personal independence payment. They will make part of their claim over the telephone and then be sent a form to complete and return. For folk who might not be au fait with forms or the whole bureaucratic process, that system will simply be a barrier to their maintaining their benefits.
It is fair to say that anyone who receives DLA would quite like to receive the successor benefit, and they should not need to be invited to make a phone call to start a claim and receive a claim form. With DLA, individuals receive a renewal pack to complete and return before the previous claim period expires. Of course, if people choose not to or cannot return the pack, that will impact on their benefits, but under the proposed system, there will be a letter, then a phone call to make and then a claim form to fill in.
As far as social work resources to support those households are concerned, we will not be able simply to go out to someone and say, “Oh, you should be getting this or that benefit. I’ve got the claim form here, so let’s fill it in.” We will have to phone and request the form to be sent out, which will in many cases mean repeat journeys and double visits.
While I am on this bandwagon, I should point out that, if DLA is not converted to a similar PIP award, there will be a loss not only to the individual but to social work revenue if the household receives chargeable home care services.