Today I moved two amendments to the Welfare Reform Bill and will be bringing my own Bill, on Employment Retention, before Parliament. I’ve written an article on the Bill for the epolitix website (a screenshot of this is above) and you can read it here: http://www.epolitix.com/latestnews/article-detail/newsarticle/john-robertson-mp-justice-for-disabled-workers/. If you want to watch my speech on this at 3.30pm you can do so at the following link: http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Live.aspx (in the House of Commons chamber) – I will post a copy of the speech on the site over the next few days.

The first amendment I put down for the Welfare Reform Bill would extend the criteria for entitlement to the higher rate mobility component of Disability Living Allowance to blind people. RNIB have a long running campaign on this – due to a piece of legislation in 1992 to qualify for this benefit a person has to be physically unable to walk. This has ended up excluding blind people, probably unintentionally, when they experience some of the greatest barriers to getting around safely.

Their exclusion from the higher rate of DLA means a difference of £29 a week, or around £1,500 a year for a blind person on the lower rate, so it’s a significant amount we’re talking about. Being unable to get around makes a huge difference in terms of accessing vital services, such as hospitals or a doctor’s surgery, and also for a basic quality of life. The change is also about fairness. If the allowance is to help people with mobility we shouldn’t only provide it to people with physical barriers to mobility – I’ve spoken with a constituent who is blind and faces several operations in the near future for other conditions, but is excluded from the allowance because he can physically walk; to have this as the sole criteria for eligibility just doesn’t make sense. I have reserved the right to bring the amendment back at the report stage of the Bill and will keep you updated on its progress.

The other amendment I brought forward today was on carers and in particul grandparents who look after their grandchildren. At the moment parents and foster parents who take time away from work have this time counted for state pension purposes, but a grandparent or other carers who could be working do not. The irony here is that the grandparent would be most in need of their pension in the near future. The amendment would recognise the contribution of all carers to society, as being as important as someone working and paying national insurance contributions. The Government will bring forward regulations on this issue in the next month or so, and the amendment today was about keeping this on the agenda.

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