DISABILITY BENEFITS

Early day motion 1927, tabled 17 November 2003 by George Howarth (Labour). Signed by 34 members.

That this House notes with great concern the fact that disability benefits cannot, in any circumstances, be backdated to the time of the disability being originally diagnosed; recognises that there is no automatic procedure to ensure that people potentially eligible for such benefits are automatically notified that they might be entitled to them; and calls for more discretion in the system to enable those who would clearly have qualified but were not made aware that they might be eligible, to have their disability benefits backdated to the point in time when they were diagnosed with their disability.

Signatures by party: Labour 26, Labour/Co-operative 2, Plaid Cymru 2, Scottish National Party 2, Liberal Democrat 1, UUP 1.