Concern over cuts in care assistance for people with disabilities
The change in the regulation of home assistance to citizens with disabilities after the elections increased the concern of families that there will be cuts in assistance for the disabled.
With the modification of the regulation published in the Official Gazette at the end of May, it was established that in the event that the conditions to benefit from assistance were modified for reasons of home, income, health and the like, the situation of these people would be reassessed within the scope of the regulation.
Making assessments to Sozcu.com.tr, the Chairman of the Board of the Disabled Confederation, Mustafa Özsaygı, drew attention to the fact that there are more and more losses in the social rights of people with disabilities instead of new gains.
Self-love explained that with the new regulations it has become more difficult to receive the disability pension and that families are worried.
CHALLENGING THE SEVERE DISABILITY REPORT
To receive the disability pension, the income per person in the household must be two-thirds of the minimum wage. In the new regulation, this condition remained in force.
However, some experts, who said that with changes made to income status determination, social benefits were included in income, said this development would mean cuts in disability benefits for many families.
Self-respect drew attention to the evolution of income and stated that the initiatives given to the committees that will issue reports of disability have come into operation against people with disabilities.
Expressing that in the reports to be submitted, phrases such as ‘do you need someone else?’, ‘yes, no, moderate’ were added instead of the phrase ‘severely disabled’, Özsaygı said, “I can clearly say that there is a clear setback in social rights. Nobody is happy, everyone is worried. Everyone sees the regression in their rights,” he said.
IT IS NOT ENOUGH EVEN IF YOU BUY MONTHLY: FROM 1594 TL TO 1874 TL
Apart from the concern that there will be a cut in disability pensions, those who are already able to receive pensions also complain that their pensions are insufficient due to current inflation.
The Minister of Family and Social Services, Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş, announced that following the new regulation on the salary coefficient of civil servants in July, an increase was made in the pensions of the elderly and disabled.
Accordingly, the pension of the elderly increased from 1997 lira to 2,348 lira, the pension of citizens with a disability rate of 40-69 percent increased from 1,594 lira to 1,874 lira, and the pension of citizens with a disability report of 70 percent or more increased from 2,392 lira to 2,811 lira.
569 THOUSAND PEOPLE RECEIVE HOME SUPPORT
On the other hand, the disability pension paid to citizens under 18 years of age who have disabled relatives increased from 1,594 liras to 1,874 liras.
Within the scope of Home Care Assistance, home care assistance for fully dependent disabled persons in the period January-July 2023 is TL 4,336 per month. According to official data, the number of beneficiaries of this support is 569,627 people.