Benefits overhaul hurts terminally ill
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UNCARING Westminster politicians are making the terminally ill suffer unnecessarily by pushing forward with a flawed benefits system overhaul, a Highland MP has warned.
Drew Hendry has hit out at the Conservative government after a debate he led in the House of Commons over the issue of Universal Credit and terminal illness.
He said that despite raising the plight of terminally ill claimants several times in Parliament, and three times at Prime Minister’s Questions, the government had repeatedly failed to act to protect those people from failures in the system.
Prior to the introduction of Universal Credit terminally ill people, with six months left to live or less, were able to fast-track their claims to ensure that they spent their last weeks with the support they are entitled to.
But he stressed that this had not been the experience of those living in areas where Universal Credit has been rolled out.
Mr Hendry branded it the "worst kind of postcode lottery" and asked the Department of Work and Pensions minister to make urgent changes.
And he also called on the minister to follow the Scottish Government’s lead and remove the legal definition of terminal illness, currently set at six months by the UK government.
"Under existing UK government rules, people with conditions such as terminal heart failure, motor neurone disease and other terminal conditions need to apply for social security in the usual way and are subject to the normal assessments, including work assessments.
"They are quite simply not considered terminal enough – this policy exposes a Tory government at its very worst and they are willfully failing families dealing with the trauma of terminal illness.
"People who are dying should not be forced to go to appointments with work coaches, nor should they have to spend their last month’s fighting for much- needed financial support.
"Even those who fall under the UK government’s ‘six months to live’ definition are subjected to heart-breaking waits for their financial support.
"Others have lost the right to not to know they are dying. Under Universal Credit rules they are forced to complete the forms themselves – effectively having to answer questions "Yes, I’m dying".
"Prior to the introduction of Universal Credit, an advocacy could do this on their behalf – what possible reason would there be to remove this right?
"The Scottish Government has already shown what can be done when a government puts dignity and respect at the heart of its welfare policies.
"Unlike the Tories, under the limited powers due to be devolved to the Scottish Parliament, the SNP Scottish Government have opted to set no arbitrary timeframe to the definition of terminal illness.
"Instead, it allows the Chief Medical Officer, in consultation with Registered Medical Practitioners, to set a framework in guidance.
"The Tories must now follow Scotland’s need and put an end to its heartless treatment of the terminally ill."
