Interview

One minute interview

Richard Holmes is policy officer for Disability Alliance

What is your campaign about?

The Mobilise campaign is seeking to end age discrimination in the provision of disability benefits. Older disabled people are substantially worse off, solely because of their age. Disability Living Allowance (DLA) has two elements – care and mobility – and can be claimed until a disabled person becomes 65.

Only the more restricted Attendance Allowance (AA) is available to people who become disabled after their 65th birthday, and only has a care element. It offers no help to those with mobility needs. The result is that two people with exactly the same level of disability will get very different help, just because of their age. The younger disabled person can get an extra £41 a week in mobility help, plus exemption from car tax. The older disabled person gets nothing.

Abolishing the upper age limit of DLA would benefit 1.6 million older disabled people.

How long have you been going?

Our campaign for change was launched at the end of April.

Who is involved?

There are more than 20 national disability and older people’s organisations involved, including Age Concern, Help The Aged, Arthritis Care, Parkinsons Disease Society and RNIB.

Your biggest success?

The launch has had excellent coverage in the national media including BBC Radio 4 and 5 and The Guardian, and we already have 84 MPs signed up in support of the campaign.

Your biggest failure?

Too soon to say – though we had some problems with the design of a postcard for people to send to their MP and have had to change it.

Your most immediate concern?

To make as many people as possible aware of the obvious unfairness of the current disability benefit rules and to encourage them to support the Mobilise campaign.

What would help most in achieving your ends?

We’d like as many people as possible to contact their MP and ask them to sign Early Day Motion 953 (Discrimination in Disability Benefits). An EDM is a petition which MPs can sign to show their concern about an issue.

Some MPs can’t sign, for example if they are a government minister, so people should ask them to put pressure on Andrew Smith MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, instead.

And how can readers get in touch?

Information about the campaign, including a draft letter to MPs, is on our website www.disabilityalliance.org.

Or call us on 020 7247 8776 for more information, and a postcard to send to your MP.