Finally... a victory
TERMINALLY ill people will be granted fast access to financial support under long-awaited reforms to the benefits system – in a victory for a Daily Express crusade.
Until now, those nearing the end of their lives have only been able to claim under “Special Rules” if a doctor or nurse said they may have less than six months to live.
But in a major victory for the Daily Express’s Compassion for the Dying crusade, the Government has announced it will extend the criteria to 12 months, which will allow more patients to have their payments fast-tracked.
Charities Marie Curie and the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MND) have fought to improve the system since 2018.
This newspaper joined the battle in January 2019 when our front page story demanded a change to the “cruel law”.
And our words were heeded yesterday when Minister for Disabled People Justin Tomlinson announced a new, fairer and more caring system is on the way.
He said: “Being diagnosed with a terminal illness is devastating.
“This change will increase muchneeded support for people nearing the end of their lives.
“The new 12-month approach will ensure people get the financial help they need as quickly as possible in the most challenging of times.We have carefully considered the best approach.
“And I am grateful to everyone who has contributed to our work in reaching this outcome.”
The charities welcomed the “significant step forward for compassion and common sense”.
Once the change comes into effect, people will be able to apply under Special Rules for Terminal Illness if a health professional says they may die within one year.
This means they will start to receive payments quicker than they do now and they will have benefits paid at a higher rate.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said the change would align the definition for terminal illness with current NHS practice.
It will particularly benefit those suffering from unpredictable conditions, such as MND, a brain and nerve condition which affected the late theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking.
MND Association chief Sally Light said: “This is a victory for hundreds of campaigners who worked tirelessly for three years, raising awareness of the flaws in the system and urging the Government to change the rules. “Now the recommendations must be implemented quickly to ensure no more people, already facing the most difficult time of their life, have to suffer the indignity of a long, drawn-out process to claim the support they not only desperately need but are entitled to.”
The announcement comes two years after Amber Rudd, the then Work and Pensions Secretary, announced a review of the way the benefits system works for the terminally ill. She said our “heartbreaking” stories had pushed her to look again at the issue.
Ministers plan to implement the 12-month rule across five DWP benefits, starting with Universal Credit and Employment Support
Allowance next year. Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment will follow “when parliamentary time allows”.
Downton Abbey star and Marie Curie Ambassador Jim Carter, who helped deliver a petition to
Downing Street in 2019, said: “This is good news for terminally ill people across the UK.
“But we must remember those who have been let down in the past – and those who have campaigned, but not lived to see this result.
“Around ten people a day are