North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has called on the First Minister to listen to disabled people’s concerns regarding the transfer of the Welsh Independent Living Grant to local authorities.
Mr Isherwood has described the move as “a betrayal of the right of disabled people to live independently and make their own decisions”.
Questioning the First Minister on the matter in the Assembly Chamber yesterday, he said:
“The Independent Living Fund, pre- its devolution, was about giving individuals choice and control over how they spent their money, their fund, to live independently. Initially, the Welsh Independent Living Grant worked that way, but, unlike Scotland and Northern Ireland that have developed their models in partnership with the third sector, you're requiring local authorities to meet with people receiving the grant to agree the support they need.
“The Save the Welsh Independent Living Grant Campaign says that ‘independent living is a rights issue and closing the Welsh independent Living Grant is a betrayal of disabled people, their families, friends, staff and community’, because it takes their voice, choice, control and independence away from them. I know that the Leader of the campaign (Nathan Lee Davies, from Wrexham) met Huw Irranca-Davies in January, and the Leader of that campaign subsequently said that this was probably the most important meeting of his life. That's how important this is.
“Will you, at this final point, please listen to this community and recognise that independence means giving them choice and control, and not having to agree how they should spend their money with well-meaning experts in County Hall, when they are the real experts in their own lives?”
In his response, the First Minister said: “In terms of how we got to where we are, there was an advisory group, as the Member will know, which recommended providing future support through local authorities' social services. Now, the principle behind that was to ensure that all disabled people in Wales were supported to live in the same way, and to ensure that the finite funding - let's remember that transferred from the UK Government - is used directly for that purpose and not on the operating costs of separate arrangements for only some disabled people.”
Mr Isherwood added: “Carwyn jones should check his facts. The UK Government devolved responsibility for this to the Welsh Government in June 2015. Whereas Scotland then appointed a full-time Independent Living Fund (ILF) Business Manager and embedded a project assistant within Inclusion Scotland, Disability Wales’s sister body, and Northern Ireland appointed ILF Scotland to administer the ILF for Northern Ireland, the Welsh Government have instead given the money to local authorities for distribution through normal social care provision. This is a betrayal of the right of disabled people to live independently and make their own decisions.
“As ILF Scotland state “We aim to ensure our recipients have choice and control over how and when they are supported in all aspects of their daily lives, as well as facilitating real participation and inclusion for individuals within their local communities. Our vision is for independent living to be a reality for all disabled people living in Scotland and Northern Ireland.”