Elderly and disabled ‘could lose bus services’

Elderly and disabled passengers could lose vital bus services because of cuts in government funding, councils in England warn.

The Local Government Association (LGA) says support for the concessionary fares scheme has been reduced by over a third since 2010.

Under the scheme, councils have to provide free off-peak travel for those aged over 62 or disabled.

The government says it provides funding to meet subsidised travel costs.

Local authorities say the funding from central government for concessionary fares has been cut by £261m since the coalition came to power.

Now councils say they are forced to subsidise the scheme, often by cutting back on other local transport services. It is a particular problem for county councils trying to provide relatively expensive rural bus routes and school transport.Some authorities are now stripping back rural bus timetables, or cancelling free travel for elderly and disabled passengers during peak hours.

Free home-to-school transport is also under threat in several areas.

Leicestershire’s Conservative councillor with Cabinet responsibility for transport, Peter Osborne, said: “The local government spending squeeze means what is required by law is undeliverable unless county councils put in extra subsidy. Is it fair that a ratepayer is subsidising what government should be paying for in the first place?”

Oxfordshire, Cumbria, Somerset, Dorset and Buckinghamshire are also looking at ways to reduce the cost of their local bus routes. Their plans involve a mixture of cutting school buses and withdrawing less popular routes, the LGA said.

Councils say the problem compounded by the fact that demand is increasing. The ageing population means that a third of all bus journeys are by the 10 million older and disabled people who receive concessionary bus passes.

Councils are increasingly looking for alternatives to regular scheduled buses – particularly for the more remote villages. Some authorities are promoting car sharing schemes and “dial a ride” community transport services.

Councillor Peter Box of Wakefield, who chairs the LGA’s Economy and Transport Board, said: “The concessionary fares provide a lifeline for our most vulnerable residents…but it is now under real threat.”

A spokeswoman for the Department for Transport said: “We know that bus services are vital for many older and disabled people. That is why the right to free travel is enshrined in law, and government provides funding to meet the cost of subsidising offpeak travel for these groups. In addition, the Department for Transport provides funding to bus operators to help more services run and keep ticket prices down. The current level of this funding is protected until 2015/16.”

from the BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26385176

Army veteran cancer patient too destitute to afford transport for hospital treatment

We have a local beggar, ex soldier, been begging around our local supermarket for years. He has long term issues regarding his mental health.
Last year in midwinter, his benefits stopped. They told him he had to have a bank account to pay them in to. Then they gave him a payment card, but he needed ID to withdraw the money, which he didn’t have; he has been sleeping rough for years. Just applying for a passport cost ££ and took weeks. By the time he had found the money and waited for his ID, his benefit payments money had been withdrawn  from his account because it had not been claimed. He has been fighting with them ever since to get this money reinstated.
He’d been living off loans to pay for his hostel bed, when he could afford it, and those loans cannot be repaid unless he gets this money. He was now feeling unwell, and couldn’t face living on the streets through another winter. Brent council found him a private rented studio flat, and immediately started taking council tax out of his paltry ESA assessment rate money. They also take a percentage of his housing benefit so that the full cost of the rent is not covered. With this and his other debts he is unable to heat the flat or eat regularly.
He was diagnosed with cancer just before he moved into the flat. He’s supposed to be going to the hospital for regular treatment, but cannot afford the bus fares and has been missing vital appointments. The hospital has closed its patient transport scheme for all but the bedridden and terminally ill.

Today he tells me that the latest results show his cancer is spreading. He can’t afford gas and electricity in his flat so spends much of his time sitting in the dark, without even a television to distract him from the post traumatic flashbacks from his time serving in Iraq.
He has an ATOS assessment for ESA on Wednesday. He does now have a MacMIllan nurse who he says is very good and who will be supporting him at his assessment.
The council made an appointment for him to go see a local care home, but he cant afford the fares to get there. He feels he has had nothing but flannel and passing the buck from the council.
He has also been battling with the authorities to try to get his war pension early, but that’s another can of beaurocratic worms.
 He’s been turned down for DLA, but would probably qualify for PIP now if he applied. But people are waiting 6 months  before even being assessed for PIP. He can’t face opening up yet another DWP process to prove that he is ill enough. He’s struggling with Brent council, with his ESA, hospital appointments, with his rent, with the DWP, and with the War Office, and he’s extremely sick.
I helped him get his ID, but now I just don’t know what to say to him.

That such things should be allowed to happen in the UK in my lifetime!

by Argotina, 24th Feb 2014

Another crazy benefit sanction

From the fcebook page ‘the People Vs the Government, DWP and ATOS, 21st Jan 2014

My lad been sanctioned yet again by job centre this time for not applying for enough jobs. He has applied for all those he can physically get to, we live in a rural area and buses are very limited. Yet they said he should have applied for the ones that are impossible for him to get to and from. He was sanctioned in december and got no money for a month now they have done it again. My wages pay our bills, I am a widow so its just me and him at home, but we need his jsa to buy food. I dont understand how they can do this, the jobfit people told him what he was doing was fine yet job centre cut you off without a thought. How do those people sleep at night?