This letter has been sent to a number of #SaveWILG campaigners from Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure Ken Skates who has represented the constituency of Clwyd South since the National Assembly for Wales election of 2011. I don’t know why I am bothering sharing this nonsense, but if you don’t read it yourself then you wont believe the inaccuracies that are being pedalled by the Welsh Government.
It is an interesting aside that this is the man who I worked with at the Evening Leader In the late nineties. I would read and sub edit his work and we both went on a jolly to Legoland, Windsor when I was asked to review the theme park. I drove there while he slept in the passenger seat, now he is defending Welsh Labour for copying the Tories of Westminster and basically selling me down the river. What ever he says, the same will happening Wales as is happening in England. Maybe he actually believes that Welsh Labour are doing the right thing by closing WILG, but I am actually living with the consequences of the end of a three way triangular structure to care and support and I can assure him that it is a living nightmare.
Before you read the letter, which I will reply to if I ever get the chance, I must try to express my frustrations with life at the moment. I am really struggling to type at all, at a time when I need to write so many emails and letters. My diary is jam packed but I don’t have enough care and support to attend all the appointments that I have. I am stressed and worried about the future while I sit in loneliness and desperation with a puddle of piss on the bathroom floor after dropping my urinal. I have to wait for support to arrive to clear this up.
I want to assure Ali Granger, Andrew Ranger, Paul Swann and Liz Lefroy that I will respond to their emails ASAP.
I will finish this blog with a humorous observation. I was incredulous when I received an email from Welsh Labour who where offering signed Jeremy Corbyn bags as a prize in a fundraising drive. You couldn’t make it up. Welsh Labour have a track record of distancing themselves from JC, but here they are exploiting an opportunity to profit from the popularity of the Labour leader. The Labour manifesto actually proposes a return to a three tiered care system, which the powers that be in Cardiff are doing their best to destroy.
Bedtime now, but here is the letter from Ken Skates. I wonder who sub-edited it…
Dear XXXX
Thank you for taking the time to contact me recently on this important issue.
The Conservative UK Government closed the Independent Living Fund (ILF) in June 2015 and the Welsh Labour Government subsequently established the Welsh Independent Living Grant (WILG) as an interim scheme administered by local councils to ensure people receiving payments through the ILF continued to do so. The Minister for Social Service and Public Health, Rebecca Evans, extended the transitional scheme last year until March 31 this year in order to develop longer-term arrangements in consultation with organisations representing people with disabilities.
WILG was only ever meant to be a short-term measure to provide continuity of support for former recipients of ILF. The UK Government provided a transfer of £27m a year to meet the cost of providing this interim support, but this leaves no scope to fund a change in people’s needs, any changes in the cost of the support they require or for operating any scheme to support them. Such costs, therefore, need to be taken out of this funding at the expense of care for all.
The Minister looked at a range of options for long-term support that ensures people with disabilities in receipt of WILG continue to receive support to meet the additional costs of living independently in the community. In doing so, it became clear that continuing with a separate scheme outside of normal social services provision would not be appropriate. This is because it would continue the inequity of some disabled people receiving their support from their local authority, while others receive specific WILG payments in addition to the support they receive from their council. It was also felt that continuing with a separate scheme had the potential of becoming unsustainable in the longer-term as the money provided for it by the UK Government was fixed at £27m a year so the value of payments through the scheme would gradually diminish. In addition, this fixed sum does not take into account costs associated with changes in a person’s needs and would not be enough to meet the needs of those who receive it.
Rebecca Evans concluded that future support through normal social care provision via local authorities would be the most effective approach as it ensures that funding is used to provide support to recipients rather than being used disproportionately towards operating costs of a separate scheme as is currently the case. This approach addresses the issue of equality for all people with disabilities in receipt of social care support in Wales while making the best use of finite resources.
The Welsh Government recognises that some recipients would have preferred a different decision and is aware of concerns about the way in which a transfer to local authorities has worked in England. The Welsh Government has looked closely at developments in England and has learned lessons about what not to do. Funding for the WILG will continue in its current format until 2018-19, when it will transfer to councils. During this time, local authorities will meet with recipients of WILG and their representatives to identify the outcomes they are seeking to achieve and agree a package of support with them. Once this support is available, it will be provided to help people live independently instead of the payments previously received and the expectation is that by March 31, 2019 all WILG recipients will receive their support in this way. Recipients of WILG will only move into the new arrangements when the support they require is available.
Once again, thank you for contacting me on this issue. I fully understand why some of my constituents want the scheme to continue, but hope that the information provided will reassure you that the Welsh Government is not simply copying what the UK Government did in England and is putting in place a long-term solution which is fair to all disabled people who receive support from their local authority. This will ensure that they continue to live as independently as possible in their own homes. Please be assured that I will continue to raise your views with the Minister for Social Services and Public Health in all relevant discussions.
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if there is anything I can help with in the future.
Best wishes,
Ken
