Health News: Blind sufferers to be £30 per week worse off due to Benefits Cut

Health News: Blind sufferers to be 30 per week worse off due to Benefits Cut

Living in a time of widespread financial cuts being implemented by the government it can be hard to justify how bankers can get bigger bonuses but those who are towards the bottom end of the social scale have to go with getting their state benefits cut.

The latest news from the coalition government reveals that under new reforms to both the current disability benefits and unemployment benefits system, those who are blind or partially sighted will no longer automatically receive a new replacement to what was formally the Incapacity Benefit. This would leave those people 30 per week worse off if they are deemed ineligible under the new system due to start this April.

Formerly, the benefit was received automatically by the blind or partially sighted. However plans to reform the system would mean that those suffering from blindness or sight loss would now have to undergo a medical examination before a decision is made whether they are able to receive the new benefit or not. This has been met by widespread criticism by leading blindness charity the Royal National institute of Blind People.

For some, having difficulty with their sight can be the effect of getting older, or in some cases, due to an injury sustained during their lifetime. In some cases corrective glasses and contact lenses can be employed to help counter the effects of the reduction in natural vision, but this ultimately can also lead in some cases to the sufferer losing their vision completely, in effect becoming blind.

Pilot trials of this new way of deciding who receives the new full benefit payment or not saw that over 70% of the applicants were unsuccessful in getting the full amount they were formally entitled too. There also is the fear that because some sufferers use the assistance of a guide dog, this will work as a disadvantage, because the government would see this as assistance of being able to be mobile without the aid of another person.

There are many ways of being able to diagnose whether you are suffering from sight loss, or the onset of blindness, and can be easily helped by a simple visit to your local opticians. There a qualified medical professionals who can carry out a range of different examinations, including standard and specialised eye tests to identify whether there is a chance of taking action to help save you sight. Establishing whether you need treatment or not can be a battle in itself, but if it is identified promptly, it can prove to be a lifesaving course of treatment. Those who believe that they will be affected by the change are urged to contact their local council for more information as to whether they will see the cut in the benefits they receive.

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