Our new report, Reversing from Recovery, is set to upset the motor industry and cause ripples throughout our fragile economy.
Why? Well, under the proposals for Personal Independence Payments (PIP), which under the Welfare Reform Act will replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA), the Government’s own figures project a 27% reduction in the number of working age disabled people eligible to access the Motability scheme. This equates to an approximate 17% reduction in the total number of Motability car scheme customers.
Reversing from Recovery uses information available in the public domain to show that the Government’s plans, by reducing access to the Motability scheme, will create a domino effect, including the loss of:
- More than 30,000 new car sales each year
- 3,583 jobs (from 21,080 jobs to 17,497 jobs)
- £342 million contribution to GDP (from around £2 billion to £1.67 billion)
- £79 million in tax receipts
In addition, many disabled people are saying they can’t see how they could continue working without their Motability car; they will have to stop paying taxes and start claiming out of work benefits.
Some would say that there is an alternative, such as public transport.
However, a few days ago Transport for All and DPAC invited MP’s to join them on public transport in London, to test this theory. Public transport in London is the flagship of accessible transport. Nowhere else has as many accessible buses, tubes, trains or taxis, but Londoners will assure you that the situation is dire.
If there’s a limited chance of using public transport in London, then the chances of finding it in a remote area of the UK are even smaller – many places don’t even have a bus every day, let alone an accessible bus. Without their adapted vehicles, PIP claimants will be housebound and unemployable, as many disabled people already predict.
Of course there is the Government response of Access to Work, and the vast amount of money that will become available for taxis. Except… extracting help is almost impossible in some regions. And of course, Access to Work won’t help anyone go to see their doctor, attend hospital appointments or visit friends.
To download the full report and a summary version, go to the Reversing from Recovery download page….
….but a report is no good if no-one sees it. To help get it to the people who matter, log in to the Spartacus Forum at www.spartacusforum.org.uk for simple ideas and templates to help you play YOUR part. There are also email/letter templates available on this site at http://wearespartacus.org.uk/letters/. Let’s make sure every MP, Motability dealer and local newspaper in the country understands the economic impact of DLA reform.
Remember: Alone we whisper, together we shout!
Reversing from recovery is another excellent report, however using a Mercedes image was not such a good idea as it will send out the wrong idea that many drive around in these high end vehicles which is not the case.
The Ford Focus is motability operations beggest seller so that would have been a better image to use.
Just my thought.
Fair comment; those of us who’ve been busy were just thinking ‘picture of a car’ I’m afraid! There’s always something. Never mind, can’t be perfect
Yes I understand that can the online version of the report be changed as the rules on motability were changed and these high end cars are no longer available this is also what fuels hate crime
I read the proposed Personal Independance Payment eligibility criteria a few weeks back. It seems to me that whilst a significant number of current claimants with reduced mobility/ physical disabilities will fall outside of the criteria when PIP is introduced, there may be a whole new group of adults eligible for high rate mobility that were not previously – those with significant learning disabilities – and i assume that if these individuals are awarded high rate mobility PIP, they may exchange it for a motibility car? Not trying to be in any way cotroversial, its just my initial thoughts after reading the draft eligibility criteria for PIP mobility component.
I read the criteria the same way. We do mention this on page 6, second paragraph of the full report. My own view is that this could mean that our figures are conservative; people with certain types of impairments, which would qualify them under Activity 10, would only be able to use a Motability car if they had someone available to drive them.
Please sign and share Pat’s Petition which calls for the government to “Stop and review the cuts to benefits and services which are falling disproportionately on disabled people, their carers and families”. The link is here
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/20968
What would be more interesting would be to learn why Motability Charity agreed to this and why the car manufacturers are curiously silent. Only Vauxhall have responded so far to requests for information and all they say is “commercially sensitive” etc.
Currently the FoI request for this information is under review.
I can’t travel on my own because of unpredictable seizures. Also haven’t got the strength to haul myself into the old buses on our routes.
jail MPs.
MPs are a bit like LPs they just go on and on and on and on let have a people parlament wake up UK befor its to late the only threat this country is under is by the people who run it.
A peoples parliament oh what a wonderful idea. A rule for the people by the people. What a dream. Do you all know what Margaret Thatcher, John Major and Tony Bliar had in common ? no I dont mean they were all PMs. They were all cousins ! so much for a rule by the people. These stooges are groomed for the job. Does anyone remember a man called John Smith ? sometimes described as “the greatest PM we never had” Yeah funny how he suddenly died on the eve of his success and was replaced by a default who spoke slowly and deliberately to get his parlay correct.
What does parliament mean ?
Old French ‘parlay’ (speak) ment (lies)
I am presently in London having just met my MP, I raised many issues with him he said this government is not in touch and neither care about the least vulnerable in our society.
u cannot rely on the buses in London it is utter chaos and I live in a rural area we do not have a regular service because of cut backs and when the weather is poor there can be no service at all.
I am surprised that motability and the car companies have not challenged this government over the PIP being introduced.
This government is hell bent on squeezing every last penny out of the poor & disabled, anyone`s situation can alter and anyone in society more so now than at any other time can end up on welfare, it`s a drightening prospect. This government despise people on welfare which is apparent with their constant chipping away at benefits. I suppose if all else fails they can always bring back the work houses
Subjugation through poverty leading to sponsored euthenasia is the way forward for the disabled under this nasty government – no surprises there then.
The story so far with this is not very good from an individual’s point of view, ie a disabled person who needs a car to be able to function more effectively in society.
The current scheme, administered by Motability Finance (a charity patron HM QE2) leases cars that are purchased by them and then let back to DLA claimants at x £ per month.
The car manufacturers sell lots of cars this way.
When PIP comes in and DLA ends for many then many will lose their cars.
That does not bother car manufacturers because those particular cars are up to 3 years old and they already had the money for them, so no tears there.
So, fast forward to 2013. Why are the car manufacturers not saying much about (potential) lost sales?
One answer is that there may be a “PFI” type initiative that has been negotiated in secret between government, finance, insurance and motor industry to lease cars to disabled people outwith the PIP/Motability schemes that are proposed.
Evidence is strong for this as to date major car manufactures like Ford Renault etc have refused to comment on this and also the car manufacturers associations like http://www.acea.be/ have no comment on this. Combine this with the government’s refusal to publish details of the discussions between DWP ministers and Motability Finance http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/motability_and_pip#comment-28947 and it does not take long to conclude that some deal must be going on behind closed doors. A deal that would see vast profits for private companies banks and car manufacturers.
Responses like the dwp’s response to your FOI request make me wonder what the purpose of foi actually is! Crazy…
We have a bus on Mon Wed Fri into town with a return service within 1 hour of being dropped in town. Tues and Thurs it just goes into town. This is an ‘improvement’ on the bus that you would ring when you needed it and they would run it to try suit everyone that needed it(weather dependant of course). Taxi card journeys are being restricted and at £11 each way the costs are not to everyones pocket.
Not everyone lives in London, in a town or city. Its about time those eejits in Government realised this fact.
One point missing from this report, which affects many people now in possession of a Motability car and those who hope to get one. It also affects all those parts of the British motor industry who currently profit from the Motability scheme:
You have looked at the fate of all those who will lose their Mobility payments under the new PIP regime – reducing the numbers of those receiving this benefit is an explicit purpose of these reforms. There is, however, a knock-on effect for those who do keep the benefit, but have to go to appeal. Those numbers are not going to go down either, especially as increasing the frequency of testing is part of The Plan – again, explicitly. Every extra re-assessment increases the chances of refusal and appeal.
Most of what follows does not apply to those whose mobility problems are so severe that not even ATOS could fail to give them HR Mobility every time. It does apply to all those who know that the tag “could if they really wanted to” might be applied by ATOS, the DWP and certain newspapers.
In recent years Motability have tightened their policies on those of their customers who are part way through a lease period when they have to go through re-assessment. If you have a car and do not get Higher Rate on the original Decision, then that car goes back to Motability within a month. If you have paid a deposit, then you get none of it back. If you win your appeal, then you do not get the car (or the deposit) back.
Let us suppose that you do go to appeal and win. What has happened in the meanwhile? It might have taken 12 months (on current form) from the time of the original decision, when the car was taken away, to the time when you hear that your mobility benefit has been reinstated. Of course, you do not know in advance how long you will have to wait nor what the result will be.
What, then are your choices in that interval? You can wait for however many months it is, managing without a car and then try for another Motability contract, hoping that this one will not be terminated before the 3 years is up. You can give up and decided to manage without a car and hope the cuts have not taken away the accessible public transport. You can get a car privately and hope that the benefit will be restored so that you can pay for it.
What you can’t do is to get another car on a short-term basis (say 6 months) and hope. Leasing cars over that short a period is too expensive. Buying a car and then selling it when you get your Motability car is similarly expensive. And getting insurance is going to be very difficult. And suppose the whole thing starts again in 12 months’ time?
The ON/OFF option with Motability is surely untenable.
So categorise yourself, are you:
on a short review schedule (anything less than 2 years)? AND
in any serious doubt that you will be given the Higher rate immediately?
If both of these conditions apply to you, then you will have to abandon Motability and buy or lease a car privately. That or go without a car. How many people will this affect? I haven’t the numbers to crunch, and I suspect we don’t know exactly how PIP will run in practice, but if it is anything like the ESA farce then this uncertainty is going to touch, at a rough guess, between 20% and 50% of those who eventually get the HR Mobility component of PIP.
The days of the 3-year Motability lease are numbered. In fact there is a good chance that Motability itself could be reduced to dealing with specialist vehicles and a few 3-door hatchbacks to people who can get their folding wheelchairs into the back, and don’t need space for the kids.
Paranoid speculation: Quite a lot of people will find that eventuality very politically acceptable.
Cast-iron certainty: It will be bad news for the British car industry and for another large tranche of disabled people who do get the Mobility benefit, for the present. You may get it, but you can no longer rely on it – this is what is meant by “the end of the entitlement culture”.
Totally agree, Vicky, the issue of the gap between assessment and appeal is something I’m very concerned about, and am trying to talk to Motability and others about, as it is a huge issue. The issue of shorter entitlement periods is something I believe Motability is planning for, but it is obviously a difficult one for them. There is much to be feared and, as usual, the majority of those who might be able to have an influence are in complete ignorance!!
Car sales can be quite tricky and seasonal. Car sales can also be influenced by branding and also the way car manufaturers promote their products. ‘`,,;
Kindest regards
http://www.healthmedicinelab.com/over-the-counter-antibiotics/
I foresee a horrendous number of appeals in the near future. It will cost the govmt millions to deal with them and completey undermine the so called “savings” they hope to make. Have they not learned their lesson from the fiasco with the huge number of ESA appeals which they had hopelessly under-estimated?.
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