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01/02/2012

Contact a Familyhas been awarded the Department for Education contract to include a Special Educational Needs advisory service withintheir existing range of services for families.

The new SEN National Advice Service will be part ofContact a Family'sintegrated Helpline/Online service for families. It will be staffed by experienced SEN advisers and will be a one stop shop for parents and other family members caring for a child with SEN, on all education issues.

Click here for more information

16/01/2012

This is an opportunity to hear about Headlines' activities given recent changes, to give your input into the future of the charity and to socialise with a dinner in the evening.

2-3.00 pm Annual General Meeting (AGM) (open to all members) – Stanford Suite

3.30-6.00 pm Trustees Meeting (closed meeting) – Stanford Suite

Social dinner for all (if you wish to attend the dinner, please reserve directly with the hotel along with your room booking if you are staying)

Book your place now!

For an overview of hotel facilities, please visit the link below. Call the hotel directly, ask for the "Headlines” special rate and book your package. Please also book the dinner at the same time if you wish to attend. The hotel has a swimming pool & fitness centre

Holiday Inn Rugby/Northampton (Location M1, Junction 18), Crick, Northampton, NN6 7XR

http://www.hirugbyhotel.co.uk/ Tel. 0871 942 9059

Special rates have been negotiated:

Accommodation for Saturday 17 March - £45.00 for double rooms including breakfast (up to2 adults and 2 children can share)

Children age 12 and under – free stay and free breakfast, children 12+ stay free, £13.95 breakfast

Dinner £15.00 for a 3-course dinner Children age 12 and under eat free, children 12+ full price.

Please note there will be no childcare facilities

Please let us know if you are coming for any elements of the day and/or evening, so that we know who and how many to expect, by emailing Gil Ruff on gilruff@headlines.org.uk or by phone on 01454 850557. She will also be able to answer any queries which you may have.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

supporting the Headlines Event 17th March 2012

15/01/2012

Visit http://charlottestandems.weebly.com/for details of this charity which lends tandems to disabled people of all ages so they can cycle with their families and friends.

03/01/2012

The Department of Work and Pensions is planning to replace disability living allowance (DLA) for people aged 16 to 65 with a new benefit, the personal independence payment (PIP). The intention is that this will be introduced in April 2013 for new claims and phased-in over 2-3 years for existing claimants. It won’t affect those under 16 until they reach their 16th birthday but at that point, if that birthday is after April 2013, they will be assessed for PIP instead of DLA.

While PIP will be similar in some ways to DLA, there will be some significant differences.
The proposals, which still have to be agreed by Parliament, which is likely to happen in November 2011, include the following:

- there will be two components – for ‘daily living’ and ‘mobility’ but each will have only two rates – a standard and enhanced rate (rather than the current three in the care component)

- the application will be based less on the claim form and more on routine medical examinations, similar to those used in the work capability assessment for employment and support allowance

- the test will take greater consideration of the use of aids and adaptations when assessing the impact of disability

- claimants will need to demonstrate that they have had the mobility or care needs for six months (not three months, as is currently the case with DLA)

- there will be no automatic entitlement for people with specified health conditions e.g. those with visual impairments or receiving certain types of dialysis (other than those who are terminally ill)

- all awards will be periodically reviewed, with penalties if a claimant fails to report a change that would have resulted in a reduction in benefit.

Draft eligibility criteria show that claims will be assessed by looking at a person’s ability to carry out the following daily living activities/mobility activities:

Daily living

- planning and buying food and drink
- preparing food and drink
- taking nutrition
- managing medication and monitoring health conditions
- managing prescribed therapies other than medication
- washing, bathing and grooming
- managing toilet needs or incontinence
- dressing and undressing
- communicating with others

Mobility

- getting around
- planning and following a journey

Each activity has associated descriptors and claimants will be awarded points if one of the descriptors applies to them. If a person’s ability to carry out tasks is limited by their physical or mental conditions, they will get the standard rate. If they are severely limited, they will get the enhanced rate. No extra score will be given if people have difficulties during the night.

The number of points allocated to each descriptor and the proposed amounts of PIP are not yet known but these should be announced shortly. Further information explaining the proposed criteria has been produced by Disability Alliance, available at www.disabilityalliance.org/f60.htm

It is intended that PIP will act as a passport to carer’s allowance in the same way as disability living allowance. However we don’t as yet know which rate, or rates, of the daily living component will be used.
Children under 16 are currently not affected by the proposals and will continue, for the time being, to claim DLA. The Department of Work and Pensions has said that it will consider the effectiveness of the new arrangements before considering any extension of PIP to new claims from children or to children already receiving DLA. There is also an aspiration to consider developing a separate assessment at a later date and this may be linked to single education, health and social care assessments. Any proposals about children will be subject to a separate consultation. For more information see http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/pip-briefing-children.pdf