What we want

• Age barrier – Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is a benefit paid to long-term ill or disabled people, unless they’re over 65!
• Calling for a change in policy – We’re working with MPs to remove this arbitrary and discriminatory age barrier.
• The Mobilise Campaign – Working with 20 other charities and campaigns to end discrimination in disability benefits.

Age Barrier – Did you know Disability Living Allowance (DLA), a benefit paid to long-term ill or disabled people to help with their care and mobility needs, is only available to those who become ill before their 65th birthday?

After that, it seems, older people are to be tossed onto the scrap heap without the benefits they need to live a quality, fulfilled life.

This is an outdated and arbitrary age barrier, which flies in the face of the UK Government's own pledge to end age discrimination. We’re calling for an end to this age bar on the DLA.

Calling for a change in policy - We’re working with MPs, lobbying the UK Government and raising awareness of the issue to put pressure on policy makers to reverse this discrimination.

We want the UK Government to make available to all disabled people, regardless of their age, the financial assistance they need. Everyone has a right to play an active part in society.

We’re not calling for special treatment, just fair and equal treatment.

People who are long-term ill or disabled should receive support on the basis of need, not age. It is unfair that if someone becomes ill after they are 65 they are denied DLA, but if they have been claiming DLA before their birthday they continue to receive it.

Top

The Mobilise Campaign - Mobilise is a 20-charity strong campaign urging the UK Government to end the age bar. Along with Help the Aged, organisations including Citizens Advice and the Disability Rights Commission have joined forces to call on the Government to treat older people fairly.

To scrap the age bar would cost around £3.1 billion but would benefit thousands of people.

What you can do

Write letters – Call on the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to reform the DLA.

Write letters
Write to your MP about this issue, outlining how you feel the DLA discriminates against older people. You could also write to John Hutton, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Write to:
Rt Hon John Hutton
Department for Work and Pensions
Richmond House
79 Whitehall
London SW1A 2NS

Frequently asked questions

What is the Disability Living Allowance?
The Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is a benefit available to people who face long-term illness or disability, to help them pay for their extra care needs, and to help them get around. It is not means tested, so all disabled and long-term ill people are entitled to claim – unless they’re over 65!

What is the problem?
Those who become disabled after their 65th birthday are not entitled to claim DLA. Just because they have reached an arbitrary age, their access to money that will help them to pay for the care they need is denied.

What can over 65s get?
Over 65s can only claim Attendance Allowance, which is worth much less. An estimated one million older people are affected by the age bar. Unlike DLA, the Attendance Allowance does not include any help with mobility needs – a lifeline that enables many older people to remain independent, active and socially engaged in their community.

Top

What is it worth to older people?
The allowance of up to £41 a week is vital to many people to allow them to stay mobile and live a fulfilled life.  If you receive DLA you can also get access to other benefits such as the Motability scheme and do not have to pay car tax. This is an extra penalty on those who aren't allowed to claim DLA. After becoming ill or disabled, Attendance Allowance claimants usually have to wait three months longer than DLA claimants before they can receive any benefit.

What has already happened?
Supporters of the Mobilise campaign have sent 30,000 postcards to MPs, resulting in over half of all backbenchers signing a special petition in Parliament, called an Early Day Motion, supporting the Mobilise campaign.

The Mobilise Early Day Motion was one of the best supported in the last parliamentary session, with 239 MPs backing the call for equal treatment for all disabled people.

Dozens of Help the Aged supporters have also written personal letters to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, as well as other decision makers. Many followed up their letters, after the Department’s replies stated the DLA was aimed at people who had not had the chance to save for retirement because of disability.

In fact, Incapacity Benefit compensates those who are unable to work, while the DLA is supposed to help pay for the extra costs disabled people face.