1. law, govt and politics
2. legal issues
3. human rights

PING E-bulletin April 2015
Election Special!
With the election just round the corner (7th May), we will be looking into what each party is
offering disabled voters, and what you can expect on voting day. If you have registered to
vote by post, you should receive your ballot paper at least three working days before the
poll. You should fill it in and return it so that it arrives by polling day, or you can hand it in at
a polling station on 7th May.
79% of disabled voters feel that the parties have so far not focused enough on the issues
that affect them. Below is a round up of each party’s disability-related policies, courtesy of
Disability Rights UK.
Conservative party manifesto
Benefits
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Freeze working age benefits for two years from April 2016, with exemptions for disability
and pensioner benefits.
Lower the benefits cap from £26,000 to £23,000, but continue to have exemptions from the
cap for those receiving Disability Living Allowance or the Personal Independence Payment.
Care
Guarantee that you will not have to sell your home to fund your residential social care.
Increase support for fulltime unpaid carers.
Hate crime
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Review hate crime legislation, including the case for extending the scope of the law to cover
crimes committed against people on the basis of disability.
Human rights
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Scrap the Human Rights Act, and introduce a British Bill of Rights. The Bill will remain faithful
to the basic principles of human rights, which the UK signed up to in the original European
Convention on Human Rights.
Break the formal link between British courts and the European Court of Human Rights, and
make the own Supreme Court the ultimate arbiter of human rights matters in the UK.
Into work
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Aim to halve the disability employment gap by transforming policy, practice and public
attitudes, so that hundreds of thousands more disabled people who can and want to be in
work find employment.
PING, c/o Building Circles, 2nd Floor, Tebbit House, Winchcombe Street, Cheltenham, GL52 2NE
www.pinglos.org.uk
Green party manifesto
The manifesto below says what the Greens will offer. It has a section on aims regarding
disabled people.
Labour party manifesto
The Labour party has also produced a separate mini-manifesto for disabled people.
Benefits
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Abolish the bedroom tax.
Reform the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) and focus it on the support disabled people
need to get into work.
Give an independent scrutiny group of disabled people a central role in monitoring the
WCA.
Care
Give disabled people an entitlement to a personal care plan designed with them and shaped
around their needs, the option of personal budgets where appropriate, and a single named
person to coordinate their care.
Provide better information and advice on managing a disabled person’s condition.
PING, c/o Building Circles, 2nd Floor, Tebbit House, Winchcombe Street, Cheltenham, GL52 2NE
www.pinglos.org.uk
Human rights
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Recognises the Human Rights Act as a powerful means of redress for disabled people and is
committed to keeping it.
Aim to reform, rather than ‘walk away’ from, the European Court of Human Rights.
Into work
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Introduce a specialist support programme to ensure that disabled people who can work get
more tailored help.
Scotland
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Billions of pounds of social security spending will be devolved to Scotland, including benefits
that support disabled people.
The Work Programme will also be devolved along with a greater ability to invest in capital
projects.
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Lib Dem manifesto
Accessibility
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Making more stations wheelchair accessible and giving wheelchair users priority over
children’s buggies when space is limited.
Bringing into effect the provisions of the 2010 Equality Act on discrimination by private hire
vehicles and taxis.
Improving the legislative framework governing Blue Badges.
Improving wheelchair access to improve accessibility of public transport for people with
other disabilities, including visual and auditory impairment.
Setting up a benchmarking standard for accessible cities.
Benefits
Reform the bedroom tax so that existing social tenants will not be subject to any housing
benefit reduction until they have been offered reasonable alternative accommodation.
Tenants who need an extra bedroom for genuine medical reasons are entitled to one in any
assessment of their Housing Benefit needs, and those whose homes are substantially
adapted do not have their Housing Benefit reduced.
Review of the Work Capability Assessment and Personal Independence Payment
assessments
Invest to clear any backlog in assessments for Disability Living Allowance and Personal
Independence Payment.
Improve the benefits system for disabled people, based on the principle of one assessment,
one budget. This will bring together support like Personal Independence Payment,
Employment Support Allowance, a replacement for the Independent Living Fund and health
and social care entitlements.
Review the rules for exemption from prescription charges to ensure they are fair to those
with long-term conditions and disabilities.
PING, c/o Building Circles, 2nd Floor, Tebbit House, Winchcombe Street, Cheltenham, GL52 2NE
www.pinglos.org.uk
Care
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Finish the job of implementing the Dilnot Report proposals for a cap on the cost of social
care.
Provide more choice at the end of life, and free end-of-life social care for those placed on
their local end-of-life register if evidence shows it is affordable and cost effective.
Ask the Care Quality Commission to showcase examples of good and bad practice in care
commissioning by Councils.
Raise the professional status and training of care home managers through statutory
licensing.
Ensure those who work in the care sector are properly trained and suitable to practice by
introducing a statutory code of conduct backed up by a care workers’ suitability register.
Implement the proposals set out in the 2015 Green Paper on Learning Disabilities.
Education
Improve the identification of Special Educational Needs and disability at the earliest possible
stage, so targeted support can be provided and primary schools are better prepared for
their intake of pupils.
Maintain Disabled Students’ Allowance to ensure students with disabilities receive
appropriate support in their university studies, and review the impact of any changes to
consider additional protections for the most vulnerable students with disabilities.
Equality and diversity
Enact the remaining unimplemented clauses of the Equality Act 2010.
Formally recognise British Sign Language as an official language of the United Kingdom.
Hate crime
Tackle disability hate crime by ensuring proper monitoring of incidents by police forces and
other public authorities.
Change sentencing guidelines to increase sentences available for hate crimes.
Human rights
Protect the Human Rights Act and enshrine the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in
UK law.
Take appropriate action to comply with decisions of UK courts and the European Court of
Human Rights.
Pass a new Freedoms Act, to protect citizens from excessive state powers.
Work
Simplify and streamline back-to-work support for people with disabilities, mental or physical
health problems, aiming for one assessment and one budget for disabled and sick people to
give them more choice and control.
Raise awareness of, and seek to expand, Access to Work, which supports people with
disabilities in work.
Help greater numbers of disabled people work by encouraging employers to shortlist any
qualified disabled candidate and providing advice about workplace adaptation.
PING, c/o Building Circles, 2nd Floor, Tebbit House, Winchcombe Street, Cheltenham, GL52 2NE
www.pinglos.org.uk
UKIP manifesto
Benefits
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Recognises that there will always be disabled people who are unable to work and we are
committed to supporting them through a fair and fit-for-purpose welfare system.
Scrap the bedroom tax
End Work Capability Assessments and return assessments to GPs or appropriate specialist
consultants.
Require GPs/specialists to notify the Department for Work and Pensions when they believe
a patient is well enough to return to work, by issuing a ‘fit note’
Remove ‘tick-box’ and quota arrangements from sickness and disability assessments,
thereby streamlining and speeding up the assessment processes and continually respecting
claimants throughout the process.
Contribute to the important work done by food banks and develop them into community
advice centres for those most in need.
Keep free bus passes, winter fuel allowances, free TV licenses for the over 75s and free
prescriptions and eye tests for the over-60s, without means testing.
Care
Endorses the right of disabled people to access in home, residential and community support
services and support their inclusion in our communities.
Bring health and social care together, under the control of the NHS.
Establish a Sovereign Wealth Fund from any tax revenue received from shale oil and gas
exploration, to fully implement the Dilnot Commission recommendations.
Introduce a legally-binding ‘Dignity Code’ to improve standards of professional care
Pledge to protect services such as day care, home care and Meals on Wheels
Abolish the practice of arranging home care visits in fifteen-minute windows
Abolish the annual assessment process for continuing healthcare funding in respect of those
suffering from degenerative, terminal illnesses.
Fund a co-ordinating service for older people in every county, combining resources from
across the NHS, social services, community agents and the voluntary sector.
Improve carers’ access to support by sharing information on benefit and social care
entitlements and support groups across all public services.
Increase Carers’ Allowance from £62.10 per week to match the higher level of Job Seekers
Allowance, currently £73.10 per week, an extra £572 per year.
Education
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Reversing the policy of closing special schools, with special needs children having more
opportunity to access tailored, non-mainstream education.
Human rights
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Commitment to protecting the rights of disabled people, as set out in Article 19 of the
United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
PING, c/o Building Circles, 2nd Floor, Tebbit House, Winchcombe Street, Cheltenham, GL52 2NE
www.pinglos.org.uk
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New Bill of rights removing jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights with the
Supreme Court acting as the final authority on matters of Human Rights.
Repeal the Human Rights Act.
On the day [guidance from The Electoral Commission]:
Polling station staff must ensure that disabled voters are not offered a lower standard of
service than other voters and should be able to explain what assistance is available to
disabled voters wishing to vote in person at a polling station.
Disabled voters are also entitled to:
The right to request assistance to mark the ballot paper
Disabled voters may request the assistance of the Presiding Officer to mark the ballot paper
for them. Alternatively, they can bring someone with them to help them vote (this person
must be an immediate family member over 18 years old or a qualified elector).
Tactile voting device
This is a plastic device that is fixed onto the ballot paper so visually impaired people or those
with limited dexterity can mark their ballot paper in secret.
Large-print version of the ballot paper
A large-print version of the ballot paper should be clearly displayed inside the polling station
and a copy can be given to voters to take with them into the polling booth. A voter can’t
vote on the large-print version, but it can be used for reference.
Assistance to electors unable to gain access to the polling station
If an elector is unable to enter the polling station because of physical disability, the Presiding
Officer may take the ballot paper to the elector.
If you have any problems on election day, you should call your local authority to try to
resolve this.
Cheltenham – 01242 262626
Cotswolds - 01285 623000
Forest of Dean - 01594 810000
Gloucester - 01452 396396
Stroud - (01453) 766 321
Tewkesbury - 01684 295 010
You can also call the Electoral Commission on 0333 103 1928 for further guidance.
PING, c/o Building Circles, 2nd Floor, Tebbit House, Winchcombe Street, Cheltenham, GL52 2NE
www.pinglos.org.uk
PING, c/o Building Circles, 2nd Floor, Tebbit House, Winchcombe Street, Cheltenham, GL52 2NE
www.pinglos.org.uk