The Independent Living Fund was set up in 1988 to fund support for disabled people with high support needs in the United Kingdom, enabling them to live in the community rather than move into residential care.
It is run as a
non-departmental public body
In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process of n ...
with an office in
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
and about 120 staff. It provides support to 19,000 disabled people with the highest levels of need at a cost of about £320 million. It operates as an independent
discretionary trust
A discretionary trust, in the trust law of England, Australia, Canada and other common law jurisdictions, is a trust where the beneficiaries and/or their entitlements to the trust fund are not fixed, but are determined by the criteria set out in t ...
funded by the
Department for Work and Pensions and is managed by a board of trustees. Its aim is to combat social exclusion on the grounds of disability. The money is generally used to enable disabled people to live in their own homes and to pay for care, and in particular to employ personal assistants. Many of the beneficiaries would otherwise have to move to
residential care home
A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of elderly or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to in ...
s.
In December 2010 the Government announced the closure of the Fund to new applicants, and in December 2012, following a consultation on the future of the Fund, it was announced that the Fund would be closed permanently from April 2015. The Government claimed that Local Authorities could meet the same outcomes as the ILF and proposed transfer for existing ILF recipients to their Local Authorities.
In May 2014 The
Court of Appeal
A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...
, in the case of ''Bracking and others v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions'' found that the Department for Work and Pensions' decision to close the Fund was not lawful, overturning the High Court decision of April 2013. It decided that the department had not complied with the Public Sector Equality Duties imposed by section 149 of the
Equality Act 2010. The Court agreed that documents which the Minister,
Esther McVey, had seen in the run up to her decision proved that "the Minister did not receive a sufficient understanding of the true threat to independent living for ILF users posed by the proposal to close the fund".
Lord Justice McCombe said 'there is simply not the evidence ... to demonstrate to the court that a focussed regard was had to the potentially very grave impact upon individuals in this group of disabled persons, within the context of a consideration of the statutory requirements for disabled people as a whole'.
The Government has announced that it will not appeal against this decision so the Fund will continue for the time being. Its future was the subject of a
Westminster Hall
The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...
debate on 18 June 2014. The department has carried out a new equality impact assessment to justify the closure.
References
{{reflist
External links
The Independent Living Fund
Disability in the United Kingdom
Social security in the United Kingdom