If your DLA Personal Care is reduced to Medium or Lower Rate.

If your DLA personal care is reduced from "higher rate". There are implications for other benefits you receive. Many carry disability components that you may loose. You also loose your exemption to having your Incapacity Benefit reviewed and become eligible for the Personal Capability Assessment. Information gathered as a result of any reassessment of Incapacity Benefit is shared with and may have an impact on your DLA. The information is shared.

With the introduction of the Employment & Support Allowance in October 2008. Incapacity Benefit will be replaced. If you are down graded as described above. You will become eligible for reassessment for this benefit. Initially you will simply move across to this benefit. Then by April 2010 the government want to have reassessed all these claims that simply moved across.

Reducing DLA personal care from the "higher rate" of personal care. Seems to be a mechanism to facilitate the re-assessment of those currently on Incapacity Benefit as the new system "beds in". These re-assessments will happen over time.

The assessments under the Employment & Support Allowance are more focused on what you can do? rather than what you cannot do?. Again any information gathered here may have an impact on any DLA award you have at the time.

I do not mean to cause worry. There are many changes in the pipeline. I just wanted to re-iterate the impact both today and moving forward. So you are aware.

EAS Rates

You may be interested in the following site's for detail about the Employment & Support Allowance Rates.

"Government Goes Against Spirit Of Parliamentary Promise To Disabled People, UK" from Medical News Today.

"New rates “will force more into poverty”" from Disability Now.

Also the Members forum on Benefits & Work has some good information on this.

EAS Rates

You maybe interested in this forum post from the Benefits & Work website concerning the rates of EAS when it comes in October 2008.

Click here.

Also you can see the Written Ministerial Statement from Stephen Timms MP, Minister of State (Employment & Welfare Reform) Department for Work & Pensions by clicking here.