Jon Trickett

Jon Trickett MP this week called on the Government to give greater financial consideration to those who are partially sighted, sigh impaired or blind.

The Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) have been running a campaign to ensure that blind people and people with severe sight loss are awarded the higher rate of Disability Living Allowance due to the challenges they face getting around. They also want to see partially sighted and sight impaired people be eligible for some mobility disability living allowance because they too face barriers to being able to get where they are going.

Under the mobility component, people with disabilities who can drive can claim the DLA higher ‘mobility rate’ worth £46.75 per week. People with serious sight loss are only eligible to claim the lower rate of just £17.75 per week

One of the core objectives of the DLA is to assist people who have difficulties getting out safely and independently. The higher rate is focused on those who are unable to walk or who cannot walk to their intended destination outdoors without assistance.

Every day in the UK, around 100 people start to lose their sight. Around 2 million people in the UK suffer from significant sight loss. Around 365,000 people are registered as being blind or partially sighted. 

There are around 8,000 blind or partially sighted people in Yorkshire and the Humber

There will be a lobby of Parliament on the issue on October 15^th, Jon would like people from the constituency to get in touch if they are planning to attend.

‘It seems unfair that people with severe sight problems are not eligible for the higher disability allowance payment. In Britain, there are well over 350,000 people who are registered as blind or partially sighted, that is a large number of people who struggle to get from A to B on a daily basis.’

‘Action is needed so that people with sight problems are able to live full and rounded lives. If every time you want to visit friends you need to take a taxi – which could be the case in an area like ours that is very spread out – it gets to be a very expensive business. Disability Living Allowance was designed to help people in these kinds of circumstances and in the case of sight impaired and blind people it seems some changes are needed to make it work for them’