Freedom Passes for five years

Published: July 28, 2011

TENS of thousands of pensioners and disabled people in Camden hold five-year Freedom Pass which expire in March 2015, but the council website has suddenly announced that they will all be renewed early next year. 

This step is somewhat contradictory because Freedom Passes do not just “expire” in 2015, they are renewable in 2015. To renew after just two years means in effect that they do not last five years after all.

When the council (along with London Councils) changed the duration of passes from two to five years, it was touted as saving administrative costs and reducing the hassle and worry to vulnerable pass-holders whose circumstances do not often change. What is the point of having five-year passes if the council force renewals every two years?

While I understand the desire to check continued eligibility in order to save money, we must remember that all these Freedom Pass holders are disabled or pensioners. 

Are over-60s likely to grow younger? Are the council anticipating any miracle cures of the disabled? 

Of course, some disabled and old people will pass away but the council must have a way of taking these off the list automatically.

If they don’t, the bosses who dreamed up the five-year pass should have thought of that first.

Some pass-holders will have moved away without informing the council, but they must be very few.

I am concerned that the council may be hoping to “catch out” mentally ill people not long after abolishing their “discretionary” passes in May.  The council encouraged them to transfer to the statutory disabled scheme if they were unfit to hold a driver’s licence. 

Mentally ill people will find it more difficult to prove their disability in 2012.

They rely on medical letters but mental health services are being cut drastically.

The absence of care does not mean that these people will stop being disabled, it will just be more difficult to prove.

The elderly and disabled have suffered the most from the recent round of cuts, but it seems that the council have not finished cutting yet.
Jason Roberts
Address supplied