The Independent Living Fund http://www.ilf.org.uk/ supports just 21,500 people within the United Kingdom, it costs £333million per annum http://www.ilf.org.uk/cms_media/files/2008_09_annual_report_and_accounts..., which equate to an extra £15,000 being spent per person, per year, it is estimated that in total £50,000 of allowances and support is met by the state.
To be eligible to receive ILF, you must receive High Care Disability Living Allowance, of which 710,780 were in payment at August 2009 (DWP) and receive £320.00 worth of social care by your local authority (a 3% population of those accessing DLA).
There is a serious injustice and system failure of support within the United Kingdom and ask for your consideration in supporting this petition.
PDF version I am writing on behalf of David Cameron to thank you very much for contacting us during this important election campaign.
As you know, next month, you’ll get to choose a new government. But we don’t just want you to choose it; we would like you to be a part of it. We’ve got big problems in this country and the truth is politicians can’t do everything on their own. We need your energy, your ideas, your passion to get this country moving.
For that reason, in particular, we are grateful to you for taking the time and trouble to let us have your thoughts. We do take what you have to say on board and I shall ensure your views are passed on to David and our wider team.
Our manifesto, which was launched earlier this week, is an invitation to you to join the government of Britain. If we win this election, we’re going to give you more control over your life, more power to make a difference to your neighbourhood, more opportunities to change our country for the better.
And in our manifesto – now available to read on our Party website – we address the key policy areas where change is required: to fix our broken economy, mend our broken society and repair our damaged politics. Over the coming weeks we shall be campaigning on the important issues that affect people right across the country – issues like the ones you raise in your e-mail.
Big Government has let too many people down and left them without hope for the future. Whether it is parents who are left without a choice of good school for their children; or the more than five million people stuck on out-of-work benefits; or the millions of people working in the public sector who want to do things differently and innovate but are stifled. We want to empower people and society to change things. We want groups of parents and teachers to be able to set up new schools; we want to give people who have been stuck on benefits for years the chance to build a new life; we want to give public servants the opportunity to run the services they provide.
To change Britain we will:
- Act now on debt to get the economy moving and get Britain working by boosting enterprise;
- Make Britain the most family-friendly country in Europe by recognising marriage in the tax system, backing couples in the benefits system and supporting young families with extra health visitors;
- Back the NHS by increasing spending on health every year and make the NHS work for patients not managers;
- Raise standards in schools by giving teachers the power to restore discipline and create new smaller schools; and
- Change politics by reducing the number of MPs, cutting the cost of Whitehall and quangos by a third, and letting taxpayers know where their money is being spent.
Yes this is ambitious. Yes it is optimistic. But in the end all the Acts of Parliament, all the new measures, all the new policy initiatives, are just politicians’ words without you and your involvement.
Only together can we can get rid of this government and, eventually, its debt. Only together can we get the economy moving. Only together can we protect the NHS; improve our schools; and mend our broken society. Together we can even make politics and politicians work better.
We all know that with Labour in charge our country is heading in completely the wrong direction. That is why there is a clear choice at this election between five more years of Gordon Brown’s tired government making things worse, or David Cameron and the Conservatives with the energy, leadership and values to get the country moving.
Please do take a look at our website and manifesto and find out more about the issues that interest you, and I hope you’ll want to get involved. The more people join, the stronger the force for change will be. Together, we can make this the year for change, and give our communities – and our country – great hope for the future.
I am writing on behalf of David Cameron to thank you very much for your email.
It is good of you to have taken the time and trouble to let us have your thoughts after the first TV debate. We do take what you have to say on board and I shall ensure your views are fed into David and our wider team.
Over the coming days we will be addressing the key policy areas where change is required – to fix our broken economy, mend our broken society and repair our damaged politics. We have now published our manifesto outlining how we plan to make this a year for change. Change to get the country back on its feet. And change based on the Conservative values of responsibility and aspiration. If you would like to read about our policies in more detail, our Election Manifesto is available on our Party website: www.conservatives.com.
We all know that with Labour in charge our country is heading in completely the wrong direction. That is why there is a clear choice at this election between five more years of Gordon Brown’s tired government making things worse, or David Cameron and the Conservatives with the energy, leadership and values to get the country moving.
People are clearly desperate for change – change only David Cameron and the Conservatives can guarantee. A vote for Labour or the Lib Dems could leave us stuck with Gordon Brown as Prime Minister, and the uncertainty of a hung Parliament which could kill the recovery.
So I hope you will feel able to join us over the crucial days ahead as we get this message out to the British people. That way, together, we can make this the year for change.
My email read.
From my persepctive and what I heard tonight on ITV you quoted "if your old and ill, then we will support you" I believe that your advisors should be more inclusive if you have an illness or disbaility then we will support you, the DDA Act and other UK legisation does try to prevent this.
I regret also, that no confirmed response was received from the Conserative Party, when I advised that the ILF costs £333m and which only supports 21,500 people within the UK, reading the Mirror yesterday of a family of 8 upon £815pw, 2 people carriers, saletiate TV 42" TV and SKY etc. is bettered treated, welfare reform! The current system of welfare support creates the disparity created by this UK and previous Governments, instead of people or need.
You maybe aware of the various communications that I have raised with various memebers of your party and I would have hoped of a much bolder stance than that which was raised, it will be now up for the UK people to decide which side thier bread and butter lies.
Having spoken to the Labour party today on the telephone it was discussed that no plans to change the currently policy and structure of systems.
Council leaders have warned that local authorities face extra costs from the Independent Living Fund's decision to restrict its care payments in future to disabled people in work.
The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and Local Government Association have urged the ILF to reverse the decision or for the government to step in and compensate councils for any additional costs they face.
The Department for Work and Pensions agency, which provides cash payments to fund care and support for severely disabled people, cited funding pressures in its decision to limit future funding to those working over 16 hours a week.
The decision, which has angered disability campaigners, prevents people claiming means-tested benefits - who would previously have been eligible - from receiving ILF cash, though existing, non-working users would retain their ILF funding.
The ILF only funds people who receive a minimum level of local authority funding - currently £340 a week.
Adass and the LGA have warned that councils will in future have to pay the full care costs of new service users who would have been eligible for ILF funding under the previous eligibility criteria.
Adass president Richard Jones said it was a "cost shunt" on to local government but also said that some disabled people may end up going without support they previously would have received.
He also said the ILF decision had "come out of the blue" with "no significant consultation".
Andrew Cozens, group lead for adult social care at the Local Government Association, said the decision breached the "new burdens" doctrine, under which all new council responsibilities should be matched by adequate funding or an equivalent reduction in burdens elsewhere.
He called for the DWP to discuss how councils could be compensated with the Department of Health and Department of Communities and Local Government.
He also warned that in a tightening financial climate for public services, this could be the "first of many cases of one silo's cut becoming another silo's burden".
Responding to the concerns, an ILF spokesperson said it had opened discussions with councils, Adass and others about potentially widening eligibility for future support "if resources allow".
But he said the ILF's trust deed, which governs its operations, specifies that it should prioritise existing users and new applicants who are in work when allocating its budget.
Related articles
Independent Living Fund defends funding restriction
Simon Stevens blog: Scrap the Independent Living Fund
Independent Living Fund cuts access to cash as applications rise
Stephen Jack defends ILF from Henwood/Hudson criticism
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2010/04/30/114407/Adass-and-LGA-...
http://www.ilf.org.uk/index.html
The Independent Living Fund (ILF) has further explained its decision to prioritise applications from 1 May 2010.
The ILF announced on 15 March that it would use the existing priority groups identified in its Trust Deed to manage within available funding. This will mean protecting the 21,000 severely disabled people currently receiving ILF support, and accepting applications only from those people working 16 hours per week or more.
In a statement made today, ILF Chief Executive, Patrick Boyle, said, "We fully recognise the disappointment felt by those who had hoped shortly to seek ILF support. Of course, our trustees would have wished to find a way of continuing to accept new applications beyond 1 May from all the groups who could previously apply.
"But we are determined to protect our existing 21,000 users and we are fully committed to improve their quality of life. So, in order to stay within available resources we had to focus on the previously established core priorities that exist in our Trust Deed."
The ILF will consult with its local authority partners and others over the next few months to explore other groups it may be able to prioritise in future.
Commenting on the consultation, Patrick Boyle said, "Full and widespread consultation is underway, so that at some point hopefully not too far in the future, we can again open our doors to additional priority groups.
"We have been pleased that so many colleagues in local authorities and disabled people's organisations are already offering positive suggestions. Young people in transition seem to be a group especially deserving of the kind of independent living support we offer."
The ILF has a strong record in relation to consultation and co-production. Through a series of countrywide consultation events, the ILF enabled over 600 people to directly contribute to the design of the Right to Control and influence the Big Care Debate. They were also able to advise the ILF on the flexible payment arrangements it has introduced for its customers from today.
Patrick Boyle ended by saying, "I hope that anyone who holds a stake in the development of the ILF will help us, so that available funding can be directed to those people that need it most."
ENDS
For more information contact David Smith, on 0115 9450730 or 07779 083493.
Notes to editors
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The Independent Living Fund (ILF) is an Executive Non-Departmental Public Body of the Department for Work and Pensions. It awards payments to severely disabled people to support the cost of their personal assistance, enabling them to live fully inclusive independent lives in their communities. To get payments from the ILF you have to meet certain conditions.
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The ILF provides financial assistance under the terms of a single publicly financed discretionary Trust Deed - The Independent Living Fund (2006), governed by a Board of nine Trustees.
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The ILF currently provides financial support to over 21,000 disabled people in the UK, and has supported over 46,000 disabled people during the last 21 years.
- The ILF has an allocated budget of £348m for Great Britain and £11.2m for Northern Ireland for 2010-11.
http://www.ilf.org.uk/press_releases/ilf_makes_decision_on_priority_grou...
An FOI request was made and responded list the numbers supported under Main Disabling Condition.
Liberal Democrats know that people with disabilities do not get a fair deal. For too many, the opportunities they want and deserve aren’t equally available – and our public services and benefits systems fail to deliver for them far too often. We would work to build a fair society where opportunities are available to everyone. We’d help people with disabilities to live independently wherever we could, providing more flexible access to the job market and greater control over their own healthcare.
One thing we want to do immediately is help people with disabilities with their heating bills. At the moment, people with disabilities may be stuck at home all day, but they get nothing to help them keep warm. Currently, over-60s get a Winter Fuel Payment of at least £200. We would reform the system, granting payments to people with disabilities and paying for this by delaying age-related payments until people reach 65.
We would also help people with disabilities or mental health problems to find work. People in this position often need detailed advice and support to find and sustain a job. We would use voluntary and private sector providers, as well as public sector advisers, to do just that. We’d also improve access to counselling for people with mental health problems.
Finally, more needs to be done to help people with disabilities make public services work for them. At the moment, trying to navigate the health and social care systems can be a complete nightmare. We would therefore offer independent help to hundreds of thousands of people by piloting a network of patient advocates dedicated to providing information, guidance and support. We’d also invest an extra £2.5bn in schools to cut class sizes and provide one-to-one tuition, targeted at those who need it most. This would make it far easier for teachers to support children with disabilities. We’d also reform teacher training so that all new teachers get better training to identify and respond to children with special educational needs.