Disabled wife’s care fine fury

Disabled wife’s care fine fury

A disabled woman has been issued with a parking ticket and £30 fine because her disabled special parking badge was stuck upside down in her car. 

Source: – Daily Mirror, Thursday January 3 2008, page 27

Anti-poverty drive is failing working families

Nearly 1.5m children remain in poverty despite living in households where one parent works because of low wages and the shortcomings of a benefits system, says the Institute for Public Policy Research.

Amongst a series of recommendations, IPPR calls for the minimum wage to be increased in line with average earnings and the introduction of a personal tax credit allowance to encourage both parents to work.

Source: – The Guardian, Thursday January 3 2008, page 10

£500 a week bill for OAPs trying to stay independent

Charity Counsel and Care has estimated it is costing older people around £500 a week in informal care and care and adaptation services funded from their own pockets to remain independent.

The estimates come in a report which called for the government to make the adult social care system fairer, simpler and more transparent.

Source:- The Daily Mail, Thursday 3 January 2007, page 42

More than 500,000 young are too sick to work and on benefits

Just over 500,000 people under 35 are claiming incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance, more than the total claiming unemployment benefit among the group, which stands at just over 440,000.

Though the number on incapacity benefit or SDA has fallen from 560,000 six years ago, it is argued that many of the remaining cases are intractable, and relate to mental health or behavioural problems.

Source:- The Financial Times, Thursday 3 January 2007, page 1, 3

Cost of devolution: four different health systems

The United Kingdom is characterised by four different healthcare systems in each of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with different priorities and policies, the NHS Confederation has said.

It said Wales was characterised by free prescriptions and a strong emphasis on public health, Northern Ireland by close integration between health and social care, Scotland by free personal care for older people and co-operation between health professionals and bodies, as opposed to competition. England, by contrast, is characterised by competition between the NHS and the independent sector, and shorter waiting times than elsewhere.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Thursday 3 January 2007, page 10