LABOUR PLANS PUSH 880 NORTH EAST FIFERS

The plans, announced by Gordon Brown, will see attendance allowance
scrapped to fund a National Care Service in England with no
consideration of Scottish pensioners.

Figures from the Department for Work and Pensions and the Institute for
Social and Economic Research show that 167,940 people in Scotland
receive attendance allowance. Independent research by ISER shows that
removing attendance allowance would push 40% of those people into
poverty, or 67,000 Scots. That’s 880 people in North East Fife.

In addition to removing attendance allowance Scotland’s carers could
also be affected. Receipt of AA by the disabled person is one of the
grounds for receipt of Carer’s Allowance by the carer and its removal
could affect 46,300 carers in Scotland.

The proposals have been opposed by Age Concern, Help the Aged, Royal
National Institute for the Blind, MacMillan Cancer Support and Leonard
Cheshire Disability and a petition on the Downing Street website has
attracted 23,705 signatures.

Commenting, Mr Campbell said:
“This will be terrible news for some of North East Fife’s most vulnerable
people. It is inconceivable that instead of tackling poverty, Labour
is planning to push 67,000 Scots – some of our most vulnerable
residents – into poverty and remove funding from a further 100,000.

“Nearly a thousand North East Fifers will really suffer under these plans.
This is a clear sign of how little the UK Government considers its
impact on Scotland and in particular on vulnerable Scots.

“Attendance Allowance offers essential support to many of Scotland’s
elderly and disabled residents and helps Scotland’s carers. To get rid
of this valuable benefit would be a hammer blow to elderly and disabled
Scots.

“Without Attendance Allowance more elderly people would be forced out
of their homes into the care system instead of living independently in
their homes.

“This proposal is entirely focussed on England with no attention paid
to the consequences in Scotland. Labour’s plans ignore Scotland
completely.”
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1. Attached are details of the number of attendance allowance
recipients (according to the Department for Work and Pensions) in each
Westminster constituency.
2. Charities who deal with elderly and disabled people have united
in opposition to Labour’s plans:
Age Concern and Help the Aged are opposed to the move, pointing out
that ‘That extra bit of help may help prevent, or delay the need for
more formal care.’
The Royal National Institute for Blind People (RNIB) is actively
campaigning against the proposals as some 53,000 blind and partially
sighted people across the UK receive AA.
Macmillan Cancer Support has also expressed concern, fearing that
removing AA ‘would leave many cancer patients over 65 unable to pay for
the extra costs of disability, such as a special diet, higher fuel
bills or travel to hospital.’
Leonard Cheshire Disability stated in their response to the Green Paper
they would be ‘strongly opposed’ to integrating AA into the social care
system – adding: ‘…it simply does not make sense to look to remove
elements that are actually working successfully at present.’
3. Attendance Allowance (AA) is a non means tested tax free benefit
paid to people over the age of 65 requiring help from another person
due to severe mental or physical disability. It is paid directly into
an account of the recipient’s choice. It is paid at two different
rates:
o Higher rate: £70.35 per week
o Lower rate: £47.10 per week
The Higher rate applies to those needing help both day and night. The
Lower rate applies to those needing help either day or night.
4. Motions for Thursday 14 January 2010
Government Motion:
S3M-5515 Alex Neil: Attendance Allowance for People with
Disabilities—That the Parliament notes that the UK Green Paper, Shaping
the Future of Care Together, published in June 2009, may have long-term
implications for vulnerable older and disabled people in Scotland who
are eligible for attendance allowance and disability living allowance
as it proposes to remove the universal benefits of attendance allowance
and disability living allowance and instead redesign the benefit system
to meet English social policy objectives and redirect funding to pay
for the provision of a National Care Service in England, while failing
to give adequate consideration to the position in Scotland, and calls
on HM Government to consult fully with the Scottish Government, the
Scottish Parliament, local authorities, NHS boards and other interested
parties before proceeding any further.
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Attendance Allowance recipients by Westminster constituency

The UK Labour Government is seeking to abolish Attendance Allowance (AA) across the UK to pay for reform of the social care regime in England.[1]

AA is a non means tested benefit paid to elderly disabled people. There are 168,000 recipients of AA in Scotland.

A recent analysis by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) predicted that the removal of AA would mean 40% of current recipients would fall below the poverty line.[2]

Across Scotland, that would mean over 67,000 of our most vulnerable people being forced into poverty by a Labour Government.

The table below breaks down the number of people in each Westminster constituency who face losing this lifeline benefit, as well as the number of people who face poverty as a result.[3]

Westminster Constituency	Attendance Allowance (AA) Recipients	No. facing poverty if AA is removed*
Aberdeen North	2420	968
Aberdeen South	2140	856
Airdrie and Shotts	2920	1168
Angus	2790	1116
Argyll and Bute	3550	1420
Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock	4050	1620
Banff and Buchan	2340	936
Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk	2740	1096
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross	1810	724
Central Ayrshire	3270	1308
Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill	3490	1396
Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East	2850	1140
Dumfries and Galloway	3630	1452
Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale	2870	1148
Dundee East	3070	1228
Dundee West	3370	1348
Dunfermline and West Fife	2110	844
East Dunbartonshire	3010	1204
East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow	3850	1540
East Lothian	2770	1108
East Renfrewshire	3020	1208
Edinburgh East	2270	908
Edinburgh North and Leith	2220	888
Edinburgh South	2230	892
Edinburgh South West	2040	816
Edinburgh West	2660	1064
Falkirk	3010	1204
Glasgow Central	2600	1040
Glasgow East	3760	1504
Glasgow North	2020	808
Glasgow North East	3880	1552
Glasgow North West	3570	1428
Glasgow South	3190	1276
Glasgow South West	3680	1472
Glenrothes	2540	1016
Gordon	1880	752
Inverclyde	3340	1336
Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey	2650	1060
Kilmarnock and Loudoun	3470	1388
Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath	2880	1152
Lanark and Hamilton East	3870	1548
Linlithgow and East Falkirk	3110	1244
Livingston	2450	980
Midlothian	2220	888
Moray	2220	888
Motherwell and Wishaw	3840	1536
Na h-Eileanan an Iar	1240	496
North Ayrshire and Arran	3420	1368
North East Fife	2200	880
Ochil and South Perthshire	2730	1092
Orkney and Shetland	1230	492
Paisley and Renfrewshire North	3030	1212
Paisley and Renfrewshire South	3330	1332
Perth and North Perthshire	3180	1272
Ross, Skye and Lochaber	2150	860
Rutherglen and Hamilton West	3570	1428
Stirling	2430	972
West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine	1670	668
West Dunbartonshire	4110	1644
Total	167960	67,184

[1]UK Government Green Paper, Shaping the Future of Care Together July 14^th 2009

[2] http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/publications/iser-reports/2007-8/older-people

[3] Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) May 2009 http://83.244.183.180/100pc/aa_ent/ccparlc/ccaaawd/a_carate_r_ccparlc_c_ccaaawd_may09.html