To the Royal Courts on the Strand today, where Disabled People Against Cuts, Independent Living Fund recipients and their carers turned out in very good numbers to support disabled people who are taking a second court case against this repulsive government’s second decision to close the ILF.
Part way through the day, disabled people went and sat on the Strand and brought the traffic to a standstill. I only hope Lord Freud was out in London in some overpriced government vehicle right at that moment and found himself stuck in a lane somewhere.
The Independent Living Fund is the pot of money that profoundly disabled people use to pay for the extra carer hours they need to live their lives as independent adults. For many people, ILF money tops up council funding for care. Unfortunately, this government dislikes the idea of disabled people living like grownups in their homes and working, studying, socialising and doing their thing like everyone else. In fact – I think we can safely say that this government dislikes the idea of disabled people living at all. God knows Iain Duncan Smith has put an extraordinary effort into getting rid of the ILF. I’ve been writing about the ILF battle for several years now. I expect nothing from IDS and understand that he’s an extremist, but even so, I’ve found the government’s continued and renewed assaults on this group of people difficult to fathom.
The ILF closure makes no sense, unless you understand that IDS is malicious and such an ideologue that he actually wants blood on his hands. The number of people who get ILF funding is small – about 18,000 (the fund was closed to new applicants in 2010, so the number of recipients is not growing). The average cost of the ILF each week is about £345 – which, as Inclusion London says, is considerably less than the average weekly cost of residential care. A lot of ILF recipients will end up in carehomes if they can’t afford high-cost support at home.
And they won’t be able to afford that care at home. Councils certainly can’t pick up the tab for people with high support needs. I’m already talking to people who rely solely on council care and are left dangerously short of support. Cutting the ILF could be deadly. It really is that simple. So – why pursue this group of people with such venom? Could it be that IDS wants to punish them for not going quietly? Is it that he wants to get them simply for existing and needing financial support?
“The reason coalition ministers don’t mind slashing entitlements for disabled people, are quite happy to use them as guinea pigs for new benefits that don’t work, and to chuck them at incompetents such as Atos, is because they couldn’t care less,” Aditya Chakrabortty wrote this week. I think it is partly that. I also think it is part of the general plan to eradicate anyone who needs help from the state (anyone who isn’t a banker, that is). A generous view would be that it’s a combination of the two, but I don’t always feel very generous. I’ve been writing about this evil for too long.
Last year, the court of appeal overturned a government decision to close the ILF and noted the adverse effect the closure would have on ILF recipients. The government came back in March this year and announced again it would close the fund. So, disabled people are taking the government back to court. The case started today and carries on tomorrow. I hope they win. They must win. There is a crucial truth at the centre of this fight. It represents a turning-point for all of us. Saving the ILF is not just about saving a pot of money. It’s about saving the idea that disabled people deserve to live like everybody does. Once you abandon that concept, you abandon the idea that everyone counts and that everyone deserves to live.
Which is one of the reasons why disabled people and their personal assistants turned out in very good numbers on a weekday to give their support to people taking an all-important and potentially life-saving court case. That June 2015 ILF closure deadline is getting nearer.
And listen to these people talk about their lives and the ILF. Dunno about you, but I think that Iain Duncan Smith has decided they shouldn’t live.
We’re NOT all in this together: the story of the closure of the Independent Living Fund from Moore Lavan Films on Vimeo.