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You are here: Home / Archives for Direct payments

Direct payments

Coronavirus: Employers of PAs given just two days to digest vital new ‘furlough’ guidance

By John Pring on 11th June 2020 Category: Employment

Coronavirus: Employers of PAs given just two days to digest vital new ‘furlough’ guidance
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Disabled people who use direct payments and wanted to take advantage of the government’s coronavirus job scheme were given just two days to digest vital new guidance. The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme allows employers to claim for 80 per cent of […]

Coronavirus: Control over support is helping keep disabled people safe, evidence suggests

By John Pring on 30th April 2020 Category: Independent Living

Coronavirus: Control over support is helping keep disabled people safe, evidence suggests
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Disabled people who use direct payments to pay for support in their own homes are using this control over their care to stay safer during the coronavirus pandemic than if they were in institutions, early evidence suggests. Disability News Service (DNS) […]

Coronavirus: PA guidance is finally published… five weeks late

By John Pring on 23rd April 2020 Category: Independent Living

Coronavirus: PA guidance is finally published… five weeks late
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Ministers have finally published guidance that should help disabled people who employ their own personal assistants (PAs) to stay safe during the coronavirus pandemic, but activists say the delay in producing the document has put lives at risk. The guidance for […]

Coronavirus: Kendall promises to challenge minister over lack of PA guidance

By John Pring on 16th April 2020 Category: Independent Living

Coronavirus: Kendall promises to challenge minister over lack of PA guidance
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Labour’s new shadow social care minister has pledged to challenge her opposite number over the government’s continuing failure to publish guidance that would help disabled people protect themselves during the coronavirus crisis. Liz Kendall, who was appointed to the role this […]

Coronavirus: Government’s continuing failure on PA guidance ‘will cost lives’

By John Pring on 9th April 2020 Category: Activism and Campaigning

Coronavirus: Government’s continuing failure on PA guidance ‘will cost lives’
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The government’s continuing failure to produce accessible information and guidance to help disabled people protect themselves during the coronavirus crisis is unacceptable and will cost lives, disabled people’s organisations have warned. Disabled campaigners spoke out after the Department of Health and […]

Coronavirus: Ministers’ failure on direct payments guidance ‘will not be forgotten’

By John Pring on 2nd April 2020 Category: Independent Living

Coronavirus: Ministers’ failure on direct payments guidance ‘will not be forgotten’
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Ministers have been warned that their lengthy delay in publishing guidance to help disabled people who use direct payments survive the coronavirus pandemic is risking lives across the country… and will not be forgotten. The Department of Health and Social Care […]

Coronavirus: Employers of PAs still await government guidance after nearly two weeks

By John Pring on 26th March 2020 Category: Independent Living

Coronavirus: Employers of PAs still await government guidance after nearly two weeks
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The government has failed to publish guidance to help disabled people survive the coronavirus pandemic if they use direct payments to employ personal assistants (PAs), nearly two weeks after ministers provided advice for the wider social care sector. It is now […]

Coronavirus: Government ‘has abandoned’ disabled people on direct payments

By John Pring on 19th March 2020 Category: Independent Living

Coronavirus: Government ‘has abandoned’ disabled people on direct payments
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The government is facing accusations that its emergency planning for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic has “abandoned” disabled people who use direct payments to employ their own personal assistants (PAs). Although the government finally produced guidance for the social care sector […]

Rates of pay set by councils ‘are so low that families struggle to recruit PAs’

By John Pring on 25th July 2019 Category: Independent Living

Rates of pay set by councils ‘are so low that families struggle to recruit PAs’
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Rates of pay for personal assistants (PAs) are so low that local authorities could be in breach of their legal duties to families with disabled children, according to new research by Leeds University. Results of a survey of families found the […]

Government announces plans for extension of personal health budgets

By John Pring on 28th February 2019 Category: Independent Living

Government announces plans for extension of personal health budgets
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The government wants to increase the number of people who use personal health budgets (PHBs) to choose their own health and social care support from 40,000 to as many as 200,000 over the next five years. It has approved extending legal […]

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Image of front cover of The Department, showing a crinkled memo with the words 'Restricted - Policy. The Department. How a Violent Government Bureaucracy Killed Hundreds and Hid the Evidence. John Pring.' Next to the image is a red box with the following words in white: 'A very interesting book... a very important contribution to this whole debate' - Sir Stephen Timms, minister for social security and disability. plutobooks.com and the Pluto Press logo.

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