Category Archives: Employment

PIP – Eligibility criteria

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Pardon me for not blogging after such a long time. Also, pardon me for launching straight into a raging subject that have worked up Twitter into a moral outrage and people with disabilities up in arms. Pardon me for quickly putting together this post.

In the light of the current Welfare Reform, currently being brutally pushed through the House of Lords without so much scrutiny and analysis, one of the most contentious aspects of it is to replace Disability Living Allowance with PIP (Personal Independence Payment) for spurious reasons. (I hope I can have the opportunity to explain why later).

Last night, DWP have published the proposed thresholds points to guide the re-assessment part of the new PIP. This can be found here.

Below is taken from Benefits and Work website of how each claimant will be scored.

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Dering Interview on File on Four (BBC Radio 4)

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Transcript kindly provided by Claire of Team Hado.

File on Four

Part of a programme looking more widely and whether charities be trusted to run public services well and honestly?

Dering section – 11.40

While the impact of reorganisation is troubling some volunteers, what concerns many managers of charities is the future financing of public sector contracts. They worry that, while they might be about to get a bigger slice of the cake, the cake itself is shrinking rapidly under the Chancellor’s cuts, and there’s real anxiety amongst smaller groups that they may face severe financial pressure from the way public sector contracts are awarded. Continue reading →

TAG calls for Government action after independent Ofcom report on deaf telecoms

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TAG is calling for Government action to improve deaf telecoms services following a new report from Ofcom that highlights the benefits that modernised telephone relay services could have on the employment and everyday lives of deaf people. The independent report, Voice telephony services for deaf people, was commissioned by Ofcom as part of its work to tackle the most critical issues that disabled people face with communications services.

The report says that modernised relay services – in use in several other countries, but available to only a very few people in the UK – could enable deaf people to be significantly more productive at work, help reduce their feelings of isolation and loneliness at home and make everyday telephone interactions less stressful and much faster.

Ruth Myers, chairman of TAG said “We are very pleased that this independent report for Ofcom has highlighted the all-round benefits of modernised relay services to deaf people and that they may even be more cost-effective than the existing basic text relay service. We now want the government to act promptly to ensure that modernised services can be available to deaf people at fair prices.
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“The report echoes what TAG has been saying for a very long time: that the existing basic text relay service is very frustrating for its deaf users principally because it is too slow and does not allow natural fluid conversations. As the report indicates, the newer captioned and video relay services enable much faster, less stressful and far more effective means for deaf people to contact hearing people by voice telephone.” The continuing importance of voice telephone calls for the general population despite the growth in other forms of text communication like SMS texting, email and instant messaging is also highlighted by the report. Although voice calls by the hearing population have decreased a little in recent years, they have now stabilised at an average 90 minutes per week. Deaf people are therefore largely missing out on a vital mode of communication, an issue that could be addressed through the widespread availability of modernised relay services.

TAG is gaining support for its campaign from MPs of all the main political parties, many of whom are raising the issue in Parliament.

The Ofcom report on deaf telecoms is available at http://tiny.cc/fntjS TAG is a consortium made up of the British Deaf Association, Deafness Support Network, deafPLUS, Hearing Concern Link, National Association of Deafened People, National Deaf Children’s Society, Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), and Sense.

Related links:

TAG
News’ source

House of Lords debate warns over Apprenticeship Bill

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Disabled young people may be excluded from apprenticeships because of entry requirements specified in current legislation, peers warned yesterday.

In a House of Lords debate on the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill, peers questioned whether provisions on access to apprenticeships were compatible with disability discrimination legislation.

The legislation specifies that applicants must have “level 1″ qualifications, including in English and Maths. These represent basic skills and are equivalent to GCSEs at grades D or below.
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Labour peer Baroness Wilkins raised similar concerns about deaf young people, adding: “A blanket requirement for a GCSE in English may disadvantage a deaf candidate whose first language is British Sign Language.”

Both Rix and Wilkins questioned whether the measure was compatible with the duty on public bodies, under the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, to promote disability equality.

In response, junior children’s minister Baroness Morgan said the government was “very committed to ensuring apprenticeships are accessible to all young people and adults”, but promised to look again at the requirements, saying it was “an important area for us to debate further”.

Young people would be able to pursue an apprenticeship without meeting the qualificaiton criteria but would not have an entitlement to one, she said.

I am glad someone highlighted this because a fair few Deaf people do leave school with no English skill at that level. They need second chance when they do leave school and, by adding this GCSE English entry requirement, it will further hinder the development of young deaf people who couldn’t access decent education at school.

Personally, I went through Youth Training Scheme (YTS) and I felt it gave me a great springboard to enhance my work opportunities later on in my 20s. I think the Government is totally missing the point with what the apprenticeship should be all about. It should be about an opportunity to learn vocational skills that are not readily available in schools. It will create a paradox in the education system in ensuring our next generation to acquire skills.

I don’t understand this obsession for needing to have layer after layer of qualifications to do simple job. For example, there is an NVQ course in becoming a cleaner. The mind boggles and this is bureacracy gone mad.

For that reason, I am looking forward to attend Worklessness Innovation seminar next Thurday.