December 2011

Comparing Disability Allowance to Jobseekers shows lack of Government understanding of needs of people with disabilities

A young person receiving Disability Allowance will be down €4,576 a year because of changes to Disability Allowance announced yesterday (Monday 5th December) as part of Budget 2012. Government yesterday said this change will bring Disability Allowance in line with Jobseekers Allowance - such thinking shows a total lack of understanding of the support needs of people with a disability, disregards the additional costs associated with disability, and appears to rollback on the principle of recognition of disability as described under the Equal Status Act, 2000-2008, according to Inclusion Ireland CEO Deirdre Carroll.

New claimants of Disability Allowance aged under 25 will have their payment reduced from €188 per week to €100 for people aged 18 to 21 and to €144 per week for people aged 22 to 24. This results in a crude cut of €4,576 a year for people aged 18 to 21, and €2,288 a year for people aged 22 to 24. The current number of people under 25 receiving Disability Allowance is 11,869 persons, which is almost 12% of all recipients of Disability Allowance.

“This is a crude cut that does not acknowledge the additional cost of disability, nor does it allow for an assessment of the specific needs of an individual with a disability”, says Deirdre Carroll.

Less than ten months ago Fine Gael and Labour published its Programme for Government that said they would “ensure that the quality of life of people with disabilities is enhanced and that resources allocated reach the people who need them”. Yesterday, Minister Brendan Howlin TD announced “we have maintained family income supplement, carers’ entitlements and disability allowances” – do young people with disabilities not count as equal citizens?

Cuts to Disability Allowance are being made to align it with Jobseekers Allowance. Changes were made to the Jobseekers Allowance in April 2009 to prevent welfare dependency, according to then Social Protection Minister Mary Hanafin TD: “receiving the full adult rate of a jobseeker’s payment at 18 years of age, without a strong financial incentive to engage in education or training, can lead to welfare dependency from an early age” (PQ 15794/09).

The vast majority of young people who go onto Disability Allowance as soon as they qualify for the allowance, have a lifelong disability that will seriously affect their opportunities to enter mainstream employment – receiving Disability Allowance does not affect a person getting a job, their disability does.

People with a disability aged 18-24 need supports to enter the workforce. Does the Government think people with disabilities need an incentive to enter the workforce? This completely disregards the additional costs associated with disability and the needs of young people with a disability. This is a profound and disturbing change in the principle of recognition of disability as described under the Equal Status Act, 2000-2008.

Four out of ten people with a disability experienced increased deprivation between 2009 and 2010, according to an EU survey published by the CSO. The survey showed people with disabilities experienced deprivation levels of 42%, which was by far the highest level compared with other people such as the unemployed, students or older people. Deprivation was measured by not being able to do at least two of the following things: heat their home; buy a warm coat or new clothes (as opposed to secondhand); or not able to eat meat or fish at least every second day.

People with disabilities did not experience the boom period in the same way as people without a disability, as the proportion of workers with a disability remained relatively unchanged from 2003 to 2009, and stood at between 5 and 6% of the total workforce, as shown in an ESRI study published in 2011.

Yesterday’s announcement is a crude cut that shows no understanding of the needs of people with disabilities.

ENDS