Monday 13 December 2010

Ministerial Statement on ILF

There is a lot of fear out there over the future of ILF, which supports severely disaabled people to live independently. ILF ceases to exist after 2015 as the fund is "financially unsustainable". ILF supports 21,000 people to live independently, some of them so severely disabled that they would otherwise end up in care homes. I have friends on ILF who are in impressive and highly-[aid work - how can it make sense to remove the support allowing them to work?

The problem is that the Ministerial Statement is unclear about what happens next, promising only a consultation in 2011. The loosely related DWP press release on the new Right to Control is almost opaque, and it will take some time for people to work out what they mean. On the face of it, ILF funding will be combined with all the other pots of money for disabled people - AtW, DFG, and so forth.

The uncertainty makes it hard to know what to protest! The Broken of Britain will post a template letter to the Minister for Disabled People as soon as possible, and we will respond fully when the situation becomes clearer. For now, support The Broken of Britain petition against DLA reform http://bit.ly/fLXvUD and Write-in Campaign to Stop #DLA Reform http://bit.ly/dO7V8N

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