Involved users demand action

The new minister for social care has asked a service user
involvement body to produce a paper on the problems users
experience with the benefits system when receiving payment for
involvement work.

Stephen Ladyman made the request to the Shaping Our Lives project
last week after delegates at the project’s launch conference raised
concerns that payments for their involvement in research or on the
boards of organisations could lead to their benefits being cut.

The project’s chairperson, Peter Beresford, said the benefits
system took no account of the government’s desire to involve
service users.

Meanwhile, Ladyman denied that the allocation of social care to a
junior minister meant the sector had lost status.