Disability assistance in Scotland: analysis of consultation responses

6 Disability Assistance for Older People (DAOP)

It is the Scottish Government’s intention that eligibility for Disability Assistance for Older People will be largely based on the rules for Attendance Allowance and aligned with state pension age. Questions 60 and 61 asked:

Q60: Do you agree or disagree with our proposal that Disability Assistance for Older People is provided to those who are state pension age or older?

Q61: If you disagreed, please could you explain why.

As shown in the following table, a majority of respondents who gave a response, across all sub-groups, agreed with this proposal.

Table 29: Q60

Only 22 respondents provided further commentary in support of their response at Q60; only small numbers of respondents made specific comments and some of these echoed points made at earlier questions.

A small number of respondents suggested that a mobility component should be included. A small number also made suggestions for alternative ages for this benefit with examples being for anyone aged 50 plus or at the same age as the bus pass. There was also concern that State Pension age can change over time and thus this benefit should not be linked to State Pension age.

The consultation paper then noted that it is anticipated that eligibility rules for the benefit, and the components that make up the benefit, will remain similar to Attendance Allowance. Questions 62 and 63 went on to ask:

Q62: Do you agree or disagree with the proposed eligibility criteria for Disability Assistance for Older People?

Q63: If you disagreed, please could you explain why.

As shown in the following table, there were higher levels of agreement than disagreement with this proposal.

Table 30: Q62

A total of 33 respondents provided further commentary and the key theme which emerged was concerns over mobility allowance and requests for this to be included.