Annual review - RNIB

Fighting to ensure blind and partially sighted people receive
the services and support to which they are entitled
We are determined to protect the entitlements of blind and partially sighted people and ensure
that vital services and support can be relied upon now and in the future.
The recommendations within the Welfare Reform Bill posed real threats to blind and partially
sighted people, which is why we helped organise the largest mobilisation of disabled people ever
to lobby MPs in Parliament over welfare reform. Hundreds of blind and partially sighted people
were part of the 8,000 disabled people to lobby Parliament last May as part of the Hardest
Hit march. Regional events followed in October attended by 5,000 people and our Hardest Hit
Christmas card was signed by 23,000 people before being delivered to 10 Downing Street.
This unprecedented lobbying led to 87 per cent of MPs being contacted and 27 per cent being
visited, and MPs and government being left in no doubt that the challenges and additional costs
faced by blind and partially sighted people needed to be reflected in the new benefit.
Early in the year we were delighted that the proposals published by our Vice-President Lord Low,
which were based on the personal mobility needs of blind and partially sighted people, led to the
government reversing its decision to make blind and partially sighted people in residential care
ineligible to the additional mobility component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA). But now we
are faced with a new threat to the independence of blind and partially sighted people.
The government’s plans to replace DLA with Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will remove
tens of millions of pounds from blind and partially sighted people. The criteria for the new benefit
fail to recognise that sight loss is a serious disability and that you face extensive extra costs if you
can’t see and that these costs are ongoing. This year we will work hard to challenge these plans
and to protect the entitlements of blind and partially sighted people.
Find out how you can help blind and partially sighted people
by supporting our PIP campaign at rnib.org.uk/pip
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Supporting independent living