Young person receiving disability allowance down €4,576 a year

CUTS will mean a young person receiving a disability allowance will be down €4,576 a year after the budget changes.

Inclusion Ireland head Deirdre Carroll said bringing disability allowance in line with jobseekers’ allowance showed a total lack of understanding and appeared to roll back on the principle of recognition of disability as described under the equal status legislation.

Under the proposed rules, new claimants of disability allowance aged under 25 will have their payment reduced from €188 per week to €100 for people aged 18 to 21, and to €144 per week for people aged 22 to 24.

Currently, 11,869 people under 25 receive the disability allowance, which is almost 12% of all recipients of the allowance.

Ms Carroll said this was a “crude cut” that did not acknowledge the additional cost of disability, nor does it allow for an assessment of the specific needs of an individual with a disability.

“People with a disability aged 18-24 need supports to enter the workforce,” said Ms Carroll. “Does the Government think people with disabilities need an incentive to enter the workforce? This completely disregards the additional costs associated with disability and the needs of young people with a disability.

“This is a profound and disturbing change in the principle of recognition of disability as described under the Equal Status Act, 2000-2008.”

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, a concerned mother outlined how it would affect her disabled son who has a rare metabolic disorder

“This €88 cut will have a massive effect. We have a medical card but my son also needs a lot of vitamins and they all have to be paid out of the disability allowance. Everything is more expensive when a person is disabled,” the woman said.

“Why make it difficult for people that are trying to do their best by their children? If I chose to put my son in residential care, it would cost the state about €7,000 a year. Yet, they want to reduce our disability allowance from €188 to €100. How are people supposed to manage on that?”

John Dolan, head of the Disability Federation of Ireland, said what people with disabilities needed was greater equality of outcome.

He said young disabled people on disability allowance were excluded from all the activation programmes announced to date from the Department of Social Protection despite the fact that a recent survey published by the ESRI and Office for Social Inclusion found that two thirds of this group were willing to work with the correct supports.

Mr Dolan said he was also “very concerned” about what the true extent of cuts of 2% across the sector and to what extent they would impact on services.

“We are seeking immediate clarification from the Department of Health in relation to the cuts.”