Flintshire Disability Forum
Report of the Flintshire Disability Forum Meeting held at Flint Pavilion Leisure Centre on Tuesday 25th May 1999
10:30am Welcome
Alex Warr Community Development Worker of the Disability Association/ Cymdeithas Anabledd introduced herself and welcomed delegates to the meeting.
Alex gave a summary of the meeting’s programme. She informed members that two guest speakers had been invited to today’s meeting, following member suggestions at the previous meeting. She also informed members that workshops were being held to discuss the arrangements for the Annual General Meeting, in particular, the structure of the management committee, nominations and the meeting’s agenda.
She reminded members that during the November consultation meeting on establishing the forum, Cllr Tom Middlehurst had announced the development of a PSI Strategy for Flintshire County Council, which would incorporate the provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and promote good practice. She informed members that she had attended the first meeting of a core group, established to take the strategy forward, and that a request had been made by the core group, for two representatives of the forum with physical/and or sensory impairments, to be represented on the group. Alex asked members to consider this invitation and to inform her during today’s meeting if they were interested in becoming the forum’s representatives.
10:40am Presentation by Fran Goulbourne, Flintshire Care & Repair
Fran Goulbourne provided members with an interesting presentation upon the work of Care & Repair in Flintshire. Further details are available by contacting Flintshire Care & Repair, Ty’r Binweddyn, Clayton Road, Mold CH7 1ST Tel: (01352) 758700 Fax: (01352) 750600.
11:05am Presentation by Ian Jones, Flintshire Disability Action on the ‘Welfare Reform Bill’
Ian Jones informed members: ‘Last week the Government's Welfare Reform and Pensions Bill was passed through Parliament despite 65 MP’s voting against the Bill. The Bill has also gained a lot of publicity due to members of a number of major charities for example Scope, RNIB and Disability Alliance having walked out of the Disability Welfare Forum. I am now going to talk about some of the changes that are going to affect Disability Benefits.
SEVERE DISABLEMENT ALLOWANCE
Severe Disablement Allowance will be abolished for all new claimants after 2001. SDA is a benefit paid to people who have an disability but are unable to work and did not have enough national insurance stamp payments to qualify for Incapacity Benefit.
For people between the ages of 16 & 25 who are disabled at birth or have become disabled; they will move onto the higher level of benefit which will be up to £25 extra. The people it will affect will be people who give up work after they are 25 and have not paid enough National Insurance contributions. In this situation they will have to rely on means-tested benefits or the wages of other members of the family.
The Government is also to give a guaranteed income to disabled people but the only people that will qualify are those who receive Income Support and the High Rate care component of DLA. The guaranteed income is £128/week for a single person, £169/week for a couple and £199 a week for a family of one child who is severely disabled.
INCAPACITY BENEFIT
The changes to Incapacity Benefit are as follows: At the moment to qualify for the benefit, if you have paid a full year national insurance contribution in any one year then you could qualify for IB. Therefore under the new rules you must have paid one full year in the last two years of employment. A person who has had a chequered work record in the last two years of their working life would not qualify for IB.
The second proposal is that people who have an occupational pension will have their incapacity reduced by 50p for every pound over 50 pounds of their occupational pension.
Thirdly the All Work’s tests is going to be reformed and will now examine what a person can do as well as what they are unable to do but we have no further details on exactly how it will work.
DISABILITY LIVING ALLOWANCE
The changes to DLA are as follows. The mobility part of the component will now be awarded to people from the age of three. There will no longer any life awards and people will given regular reviews.
The Single Gateway
People who make a claim for ICB will have to attend an interview under the single gateway, where an advisor will tell them what potentials for employment are available.
DISABLED PERSON’S Tax Credit
The DPT will replace DWA from October 1999. The Tax credits initially will be paid through benefits books but after April 2000 they will be paid through the pay packet.
Further information on disability benefits is available by contacting Ian Jones at Flintshire Disability Action, Ty’r Binwydden, Clayton Road, Mold CH7 1ST Tel: 01352 751559 Fax: Minicom: etc.
11:25 Coffee Break/Divide into Workshops
11:40am Member Workshops:
Members divided into four workshops facilitated by Alex Warr, Ian Jones, Wendy Jones and Ann Earlam. Members were therefore asked to discuss the AGM arrangements.
12:25pm Feedback Session
Alex Warr, Ian Jones, Wendy Jones and David Jones reported back on the issues raised from their workshops.
The feedback demonstrated that there was consensus on a number of points:
Guest Speaker at the AGM:
Members agreed that Julia McFadden from the Benefits Agency should be the guest speaker, but recommended that Winfed Lloyd Jones from the Community Transport Association be invited to the Forum’s ordinary meeting in July.
The Forum’s management committee structure:
Members agreed that the committee should consist of four officers (chairman, vice-chairman, secretary and treasurer) and six ordinary members.
Nominations to the Management Committee:
Workshops differed in opinion; 2 workshops believed that nominations could be received prior to the meeting and on the day, 1 workshop belived that nominations should only be received prior to the meeting and 1 workshops believed that officer nominations could only be received prior to the meeting, although nominations for ordinary positions on the committee could also be received on the day.
A vote was therefore held; a majority of members agreed that nominations for all committee positions (including officers) could be received prior to the meeting and on the day. Members also agreed that it would be useful to receive information regarding the candidates’ experiences of disability and any paid/voluntary experience.
Alex Warr informed members that nominations could be received through members completing the nomination papers, or nominations could be received by telephone.
The creation of a Forum membership scheme:
All workshops unanimously agreed that a scheme should be created.
Draft AGM Agenda:
All workshops agreed that the draft agenda was acceptable.
Chair for the Meeting:
All members agreed that it would be useful to invite a member with experience of chairing meetings, to preside over the meeting. Members agreed that it was an excellent proposal to invite Steve Wood, Chairman of the Disability Association to chair the meeting, if he was available.
12:50pm Summary: Alex Warr - Disability Association
Alex thanked all the workshop facilitators and scribes for their contribution to the meeting.
She advised members that they would all receive a copy of the draft forum constitution with the AGM papers.
She informed members that three nominations had been received at the meeting, for the two positions upon the PSI Strategy Core Group. She asked the two members present to provide details of their experience of disability and of any experience within the voluntary sector; Alex provided details of the third member, who had left the meeting due to a prior arrangement.
Alex asked members to vote for one of the three nominees; the two candidates attaining the highest number of votes would be the official representatives of the forum; the third candidate would be the official reserve. Following the vote, Joan Murphy and Tommy Galloway were elected as the forum representatives, with Marion Harrison being elected as the official reserve representative.
Alex invited Kieran Duff of the Flintshire Local Voluntary Council to address the members. He informed members that FLVC were holding their AGM the next day (26th May) at St David’s Park Hotel, Ewloe and that they were very welcome to attend. He also informed members of the development of a local Compact; an initiative to establish a formal arrangement between the voluntary sector and the local authority for future joint working.
Alex thanked everyone for attending the meeting and she hoped that many of the members would be able to attend the Forum’s first AGM on Tuesday 29th June at the Flint Pavilion Leisure Centre.
1:00pm Close. Followed by Buffet Lunch.