In among all the benefit changes I hadn't spotted the ending of ILF ,until I saw that disabled campaigners lost their high court case yesterday, and the ILF is permanently closed to new applicants.
The funding enables a severely disabled person to employ personal carers directly. it is a DWP top-up to local authority- funded support, and is needs-based for the most profoundly disabled people. Without it many more would have to live in very expensive residential care - surely at greater public expense, or they remain dependent on family; but either way losing their liberty to work, to socialise and basically control their own lives. Here is what the ILF mean to Martyn Sibley and Mary Laver, and Jenny Morris's explanation of the history of he ILF.
The late Steve Cribb was a pioneer of ILF in the late 80s. Initially he managed to wangle his benefits with the help of Hounslow Council so the funding for all his care needs were paid directly to him - a radical idea which stretched the rules at the time. Directly employing the two carers he needed for daily living and getting around, meant he could move into his own flat, and be an active, and effective, Councillor. He campaigned nationally to see ILF becoming a mainstream benefit, and knowing Steve, he would be deeply angered to see the Coalition government rolling back his legacy, especially as he was a Lib Dem.
Good luck to the five people taking the appeal on behalf of the 20,000 people whose independence is possible through the ILF.
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