We are Spartacus

Since we finished our response to the PIP assessment consultation, on 30 April, people have been asking how they can help. It’s a very good question, and we’re giving careful consideration to how we can move forward.

Unfortunately, as most of our fellow campaigners know only too well, things take longer when we’re all ill and/or disabled. But there’s always plenty to do – so here are some ideas while we regroup:

# Study the latest PIP consultation: DLA reform and Personal Independence Payment – completing the detailed design and start thinking about how you will respond. We won’t be producing a simplified version of this particular consultation, as it’s not nearly as complex as the last one, but we’ll discuss it in the Forum.

# If you haven’t already, read the WeareSpartacus response to the PIP assessment consultation: The ‘We are Spartacus’ community responds to Government.  Why not email or write to your MP, drawing attention to our response, and explain your concerns about how the PIP proposals are likely to affect you personally? You could ask him or her to commit to supporting you if you have problems with PIP when it comes in.

# Sign up to ‘follow’ this website (see left hand column), so you don’t miss our updates.

# Join the Spartacus Forum, at www.spartacusforum.org.uk - this is where  the real work happens! We’re planning to create work groups in the Forum to develop different aspects of the campaign. There are also boards where you can discuss issues with other Forum members, and a chat room.

# Make sure you and all your friends and family have signed Pat’s Petition, at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/20968. There are currently just over 36,000 signatures, but we need 100,000 for politicians to take notice, so we can’t be complacent.

These are just a few ideas to be going on with. And a final thought – when we’re frightened and angry, we mustn’t forget the Spartacus principles, developed and honed since the original Spartacus Report, Responsible Reform, was published in January:

• We’re not aggressive – rather, we gain credibility by the rigour of our analysis and the accuracy of our work.
• We believe political influence comes from having a respectful attitude (hard, sometimes!), being respected for our achievements and, often, from working quietly behind the scenes.
• We support rather than criticise other groups and charities and try to fill the gaps they can’t cover.

In fact, if you’re new to us, why not read The Spartacus Story, published on 14 February, to find out how all this began…

and watch this space!

Together we Shout:
The ‘We are Spartacus’ Community Submission to the Government Consultation on Assessments for Personal Independence Payments (link)

The culmination of forum discussions, facebook help-a-thons, website comments and our PIP survey is an evidence-based, high quality, forensically detailed response to the consultation on the proposed assessment for Personal Independence Payment (PIP). The document, which includes a foreword by Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, was submitted to the DWP this afternoon. We’ve published it so all those who share our concerns about the Government’s proposals can use it to fight for a benefit that works for disabled and sick people.

The document includes a huge number of recommendations, some major and overarching and some detailed and technical. It’s hard to identify our ‘key’ recommendations, but here’s a taste:

• The addition of a new activity based on the need for general supervision
• That the activity of bathing incorporate the cleaning of the entire body, including limbs and extremities
• That significant changes should be made to recognise the difficulty and expense surrounding the management of incontinence
• That the difficulties associated with being unable to handle paperwork and write be taken into account in relation to communication and managing finances
• That points awarded take account of the high cost of some aids and appliances such as voice synthesisers
• That the benchmark for considering wheelchair use be increased from 50m to 200m
• That more account be taken of the need for walking aids (other than wheelchairs), especially those that need both hands to be used
• That, in addition to asking whether the claimant can undertake an activity safely, reliably, repeatedly and in a timely fashion, the assessment should also ask what the claimant can do without severe discomfort.
• That the Government ‘take every regulatory, contractual and advisory opportunity to ensure that problems reported with the WCA… do not occur in the PIP assessment’.

For details of all our recommendations, take a look at the  document!

We also urged the Government to give careful consideration to some overarching issues we’re all concerned about – for example, the danger that the introduction of PIP will seriously compromise disabled people’s independence and will increase costs for other public services such as the NHS and local councils.

We will be producing the document in accessible formats later this week and we will also be encouraging everyone to carry on campaigning on some of the key recommendations we’ve made. This is NOT the end… this is only the beginning… of a new phase of engagement to protect our lives and our well-being.

Together we Shout

[This article was originally published on janeyoung.me.uk]

I get the feeling that the tide may be starting to turn in relation to welfare reform. This is just a gut feeling, nothing more, but I have some evidence – not that the Government is starting to  listen, yet, but that other organisations and individuals are finding their voice and that the media is starting to listen. Read the rest of this entry »

The Spartacus PIP Survey will close on Monday morning, so please complete it soon! You can find it at:

http://survey.spartacusforum.org.uk/index.php?sid=13281&lang=en

The survey should take no more than 10 minutes

Remember: You can do as little or as much of the survey as you feel able; there is an assumption you have read some of the documents, which you can find at http://wearespartacus.org.uk/spartacus-publications/pip-consultation-downloads/ (the unofficial guide to the PIP consultation is the best document to look at). If you’ve looked at the documents but still don’t understand it we do want to know – there is a question in the survey about how easy or difficult you have found it.

Note: Doing the survey to contribute to the group response does not replace taking part and giving your views as an individual; we need both.

We only have 3 weeks before the 30^th April deadline for the PIP (Personal Independence Payment) Consultation on the assessment criteria, thresholds and definitions. This is the most important consultation as it determines who will qualify for the new benefit, which will replace DLA (Disability Living Allowance) for claimants of working age.

Dr James Bolton, Deputy Chief Medical Officer at the DWP, has told us he has received 300 responses so far. This is disappointing, but as we have pointed out to him, this consultation is exceptionally complex and difficult to understand, despite all our efforts to make it easier.

Some of the clever brains on the Spartacus consultation team have been looking at the consultation in detail over recent weeks and picking apart the descriptors. Our aim is to write a response on behalf of Spartacus, but we can’t do this without your input.

So please can you take part in our survey – you can find it here  http://survey.spartacusforum.org.uk/index.php?sid=13281&lang=en

The survey should take no more than 10 minutes

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s not easy when the press don’t seem to be listening and everywhere we look, as sick and disabled people, we’re labelled scroungers.  The latest headlines screamed “29% people found fit for work when moved from Incapacity Benefit to Employment and Support Allowance”, despite the DWP being forced to admit that those same figures will change radically when people’s appeals are heard, and in all probability almost half of those pronounced fit for work will be found to be anything but.

Every day we see the despair and fear of the brown envelope arriving, but who is listening, fighting our corner?

Until yesterday, other than a few notable broadsheet journalists and MP’s, I’d have said no-one.

Then a ray of light fell into my inbox: the Scottish Conference of GP’s has passed a resolution that:

1. the inadequate computer-based assessments that are used have little regard to the nature or complexity of the needs of long term sick and disabled persons;
2. the WCA should end with immediate effect and be replaced with a rigorous and safe system that does not cause avoidable harm to some of the weakest and most vulnerable in society.

Read the rest of this entry »

Remember – the deadline for submitting your response to the DWP on the PIP Consultation (assessment criteria) is Monday 30th April! 

For help to respond to the PIP consultation, see our PIP Consultation Guidance and Simplified Documents

Responses should be emailed to pip.assessment@dwp.gsi.gov.uk; we would also find it very helpful if you copy your response to us at pipresponse@spartacusforum.org.uk

Progress update: Monday 30th April – 45 responses

Read the rest of this entry »

This weekend we’re launching our new, dedicated Spartacus Forum. Do sign up and introduce yourself!

…come join us!

To start with, Spartacus was nothing; just a name Sue Marsh and Kaliya Franklin used to launch the Responsible Reform report, which analysed all 523 organisations’ responses to the government’s first consultation on reform of Disability Living Allowance. Before working with others* (see footnote) to produce the report, Sue and Kaliya had been campaigning for 18 months against the portrayal by politicians and media of disabled and sick people as scroungers. They realised that if they didn’t fight, no-one would.

Read the rest of this entry »

Note: we will be uploading the accompanying document, our unofficial simplified version of the PIP consultation, on or around Monday 20 February. Most people may wish to wait for that as it aims to make it much easier to respond to the consultation.

You all know how important it is to feel you have a say in things that concern you, especially in these difficult times.  It’s not surprising you feel powerless when the government seems to have the upper hand in making changes that affect disabled and sick peoples’ lives. This is YOUR chance to have your say on one of the most important issues facing disabled people today – the change from Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to the Personal Independence Payment, or PIP.

Read the rest of this entry »