UK Government ignores court ruling

...but disabled people vow to fight on.

The UK government has announced that it will go ahead with its planned closure of the Independent Living Fund despite a unanimous ruling in December by the English Court of Appeal.

The Independent Living Fund (ILF) is a £320 million ring-fenced fund which has enabled 16,000 disabled people to employ their own personal assistants and live in the community.

In June 2010 the government closed the fund to new applicants, and in 2012 it announced its intention to close it altogether and reallocate the money to local authorities.

In December the Court of Appeal unanimously ruled that the government had failed to properly consult disabled people over the closure, but earlier this month the Department for Work and 

Pensions announced that it would close the fund in June 2015 anyway.

But Sue Elsegood, an ILF user from London, said disabled people had not given up yet.  Users of the fund intend to discuss their next move at a conference organised by the Disabled People Against Cuts 

group, DPAC, on 12 April.

Elsgood said they would demand the government and a future Labour government keeps the fund open and that it is re-opened to new applicants.

"We want the ILF to stay open because it is working. It is a national scheme. The social workers in the ILF are specialised.

"As a service user I can get more continuity than with the local authority where there is a different person every time," she explained.

"For all we know the funding [when allocated to local authorities] may not be used for current recipients. 

There is a sense of insecurity around the planned closure.  I only got my letter the day before yesterday."

Elsgood said disabled users of the fund feared they would be placed in residential care or forced to rely on agency staff.

"At the moment I employ people directly, so I can choose who I employ and who works for me and when I get that support.

"Everyone should be offered direct payments but if you only have a few hours it can be very difficult to recruit people, so some people are reliant on agencies who have such a turn-over of staff, the quality of support is not as good.

"I am much happier employing my own staff," she said.

Anne Pridmore, one of the five ILF users who took the court action against the government last year agreed.

“We are not going to go down without a fight.

“Quite a lot of people on ILF go to work and they won’t be able to do that.

“I have six or seven women working for me and I feel very responsible because their jobs will end.

“Because I am of a certain age it looks likely that they will stick me in an old people’s home,” she said.

Story published on Women's Views on news, 20 March 2014.