Bigger benefit needed for sight loss

A Failsworth man is pressing his MP to get better financial help for people with severe sight problems.

Alan Davies, of Wrigley Head, is backing a Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) campaign to allow people with severe sight loss to claim a Disability Living Allowance benefit.

An amendment in the Welfare Reform Bill would allow them to claim the higher rate mobility component, and Mr Davies is calling on his MP David Heyes, to support it.

Mr Davies (67) has been fighting for years to get better help, he said, after he was diagnosed with dry macular degeneration.

He said: “I have one eye working but one is duff, and for the past three years I haven’t been able to drive.

“My sight is undergoing slow degeneration with this lousy disease, and now I have to rely on my wife to drive.

“When I heard about this campaign I fired off a letter straight away.”

The mobility component helps people who have difficulties getting out and about independently, is paid at two different levels — lower and higher.

Under current legislation most blind and partially-sighted people get the lower rate

The RNIB believes that people with serious sight loss should be able to claim the higher rate, but the current eligibility criteria prevents this.