The Spinal Injuries Association (SIA) is greatly concerned that the Government has announced that it will close the ILF to all users on 31/03/2015. According to statistics issued to SIA by the ILF (March 2013) there are 1,018 people in the UK with a Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) supported by ILF funding.

From 01/04/2015 it is the Governments intention that these 1,018 people (along with approx 19,000 other ILF users) will be fully integrated into the Social Care System provided by Local Authorities (LA’s) and the Devolved Administrations (DA’s).

Despite calls from the overwhelming majority of ILF users and Disabled Peoples Organisations responding to the Government’s consultation on “the future of the ILF” (end October 2012) to:

• Keep the ILF and re-instate it for all applicants who qualify for it
• Use the centralised ILF model of providing care and support for the future design of delivering care and support
• Ring fence any funding currently paid to users via the ILF that is passed onto LA’s or DA’s

The Government has ignored these calls and decided to pass on ILF money to LA’s and DA’s without ring fencing in 2015.

SIA concerns are:

1. That the Government has only made this decision to fit in with its ‘localism’ agenda which will lead to an increase in the well documented problems associated with the post code lottery re Social Care.

2. The Resource Allocation System (RAS) now used as a tool by LA’s to decide on what care and support people should receive does not fall in line with the Governments ‘Fair Access to Care Services’ (FACS) guidelines which require LA’s to meet a users ‘assessed eligible needs’.

3. The growing dependency on the points based RAS does not fully recognise a person’s extra needs (outcomes) outside the provision of basic ‘bed and breakfast’ care provision (i.e. getting up, toileting and bathing, eating, going to bed) which allows a person to partake in family life, education, social activities, work, society, etc – which the ILF provides.

4. SIA has been led to believe that it is likely that any ILF funding passed onto LA’s will not only, not be ring fenced, but will only be available for the first year after the transition in 2015.

5. Ongoing cuts in LA Social Care budgets and increasing draconian interpretation of the RAS will inevitably see current users of ILF care and support Personal Budgets or Direct Payments being cut dramatically from 01/04/2015 which because of lack of proper support will see them:

> not being able to participate as fully as possible in family and social life and society as a whole
> being deigned Education, Training and Work opportunities
> being confined to their own homes with only a basic bed and breakfast care package in place or being forced into residential care
> lose control over their lives

6. People with a SCI (and other long term conditions) will not receive enough care and support to enable them to properly manage their condition and general heath, leading to the need for them to be re-admitted to hospital care.

7. Many Current Users of ILF commission their own care and/or directly employ Personal Assistants to deliver their care and support needs. If awards reach a level where it is not longer viable or practical to do this there will be a move away from Independent Living and the Right to Control as LA’s seek to commission care on a users behalf.

NB – SIA estimates that if current awards are halved. i.e. LA’s refuse to make up the ILF funding lost after 31/03/2015 approx. 20,000 full time care support workers posts could be lost

8. The Government has not considered the cumulative impact of reduced care and support packages and their Welfare Reform programme on Disabled People’s health and wellbeing

SIA therefore calls on the Government to:

Reverse its decision to close the ILF in 2015 and work with ILF users and their representative organisations, ILF Trustees and staff, LA’s and DA’s and relevant Government Departments to reform and redesign the ILF to be fit for the 21st Century

However,

SIA believes that the current Government with its’ localism agenda has set a course for the ILF to close on 31/03/13 and it is unlikely to change this decision and if the current government sees out its intentions for the ILF SIA calls on It to:

> Reverse its decision not to ring fund money provided to LA’s and the devolved governments to absorb ILF users into the social care system
> Ensure that the level of this funding is provided for at least 5 years with a tapering off only after that period
> ILF assessors are retained for at least two years after 31/03/13 to provide support and guidance for the first assessments ILF will undertake after the Funds close
> Monitor all ILF users being absorbed into the social care system for at least 5 years after 31/03/13 to establish if their care and support packages are maintained to meet their life outcomes.
> Task a person(s) from the appropriate government department to oversee pt.4 and produce an annual report which should be used to evidence the Governments performance re Independent Living as required by the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.

For more information on the ILF log onto the ILF website.

August 2013