Yesterday I received an email from Ian Lucas MP who shared the response to his letter to Rebecca Evans AM about my WILG campaign. His letter can be read here. The response he received can be read below and it is most disappointing.
Instead of being disheartened by this response, it has given me and my comrades extra impetus for the fight ahead. There are so many points that Evans has made here that are just quite simply unfair and discriminatory. It is time to ramp up the pressure on Evans and her cronies in Cardiff. We can not stand by and let this happen in 21st century Britain.
I am overwhelmed with the support I am getting from the north Wales public and this is really appreciated as it gives me the strength to carry on with the fight for all WILG recipients – the majority of who I are not even aware that this fight is going on.
I could write pages in response to this letter, but I do not have the time at the moment. My time is better spent on the struggle to achieve liberty and justice for the disabled community.
Here is the letter from Rebecca Evans AM:
25 August 2017
Dear Ian,
Thank you for your letter on behalf of your constituent, Nathan Lee Davies regarding the decision to provide support in future to former recipients of the Independent Living Fund (ILF) through local authorities’ social care.
Following the closure of the ILF in 2015 by the UK Government, we put in place interim arrangements with local authorities to ensure continuity of support for former recipients in Wales through our Welsh Independent Living Grant (WILG). This has worked well and I understand Mr Davies has been receiving payments from Wrexham County Borough Council under this to continue to help him meet the costs of living independently.
These arrangements were put in place while we considered how support in the longer term should be provided. To assist with that consideration a stakeholder advisory group was established. This had representation from the organisations which represent and act for disabled people in Wales (such as Disability Wales and the Dewis Centre for Independent Living), representation from local authorities and some recipients themselves.
The advisory group considered a number of potential options to provide future support. These ranged from perpetuating the WILG indefinitely or for a set period of time, to establishing similar arrangements in Wales to that of the ILF outside of local authorities’ provision. The advisory group considered the advantages and disadvantages of each option in terms of its effectiveness to support former recipients and its fit with supporting the larger group of disabled people in Wales who had been excluded by the UK Government from receiving support from the ILF following its closure to new entrants in 2010.
In light of these issues the advisory group on balance favoured the option of future support being provided by local authorities as part of their social care provision. It did so because this option matched the future support former recipients would receive with that being provided generally to disabled and older people in Wales. This is in keeping with our person-centred ethos for social care being delivered through the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014. This is similar to the ethos behind the original establishment of the ILF.
The advisory group also saw this option as the way forward as it removed the inequitable two-tier approach which currently exists to supporting disabled people in Wales, with some receiving only support from their local authority while others can receive this as well as dedicated payments from the WILG.
I accepted the stakeholder advisory group’s advice in full. I appreciate that Mr Davies and others who wished to see a different option chosen will be disappointed with the decision taken and will be apprehensive about the future. However, to ensure a smooth transition in recipients’ support, all local authorities were issued with detailed guidance. This covered how authorities were to prepare and undertake the care assessments necessary to identify what recipients need to continue to live independently. It also covered the resultant agreement of the future care package a person required and provided clear advice that a person’s payments under the WILG should not cease until that care package was in place.
As part of our monitoring of local authorities’ preparations for this transition, all authorities have recently confirmed that they have plans in place to implement this change, with the majority having commenced their care assessments. In a small number of cases recipients have already had these, agreed a future care package and have transferred to receiving their support from their local authority. Most authorities are, therefore, confident of completing the care assessments they need to undertake in 2017-18.
In the case of Wrexham I understand it has a plan in place to implement this change and that care assessments have begun. I am aware, however, that completion of this to time is dependent on the authority creating additional social worker capacity. I understand the authority has secured funding but has yet to fill vacancies. In view of this, officials are maintaining a watching brief on the situation.
In view of Mr Davies’ and your concerns I am happy to meet with both of you, and one or two other recipients, to discuss the implementation of this change further, although I do not intend to revisit the decision for the reasons outlined above. Would you please arrange for your office to contact my Diary Secretary, to agree a mutually convenient date for this. His contact details are:
Tel No. 03000 259461
E-mail: DS.MinSSandPH@gov.wales
Rebecca Evans AC/AM
Gweinidog Iechyd y Cyhoedd a Gwasanaethau Cymdeithasol
Minister for Social Services and Public Health
