JOIN US: Rally and Lobby of Parliament 11th June, 11.30 - 4.00
RADAR is a member of the Our Lives Our Choices (OLOC) coalition, campaigning for the right to Independent Living for all disabled people.
The OLOC coalition is organising a rally outside Downing Street, followed by a lobby of our MPs in Westminster Hall in Parliament, on June 11th.
We need to continue to make our voices heard, and tell our story, as the Government make key decisions about the future of our social care system.
We need you to join us on June 11th. The rally will take place from 11.30 – 12.30, on the day that the Prime Minister goes across to the House to answer the Prime Minister’s Questions. Come and tell Gordon Brown that our social care system is in crisis.
After this we will gather in Westminster Hall from 2.30 to lobby our MPs directly, asking them to support the Independent Living Bill, which provides a legislative framework to give disabled people rights to Independent Living. Please let your MP know in advance that you are coming, to guarantee an appointment with them.
Why do we need to rally and lobby?
Everyone recognises that the current system to support disabled people (including older people) to live their every day lives is broken. The current system simply cannot deliver and is resulting in poverty, dependency and exclusion. Even Government agrees which is why they have just launched a public debate about the future shape of social care. As the Government forms policy around social care they need to hear directly from disabled people.
What are we calling for?
· Extending choice and control that individuals and families are able to exert over support through Individual Budgets rollout nationally. Local authority and PCT JSNAs must assess advocacy need and plan to meet it.
· Setting national frameworks of minimum entitlements to social care. This should: focus on outcomes; tackle barriers to support (including restricted eligibility criteria); & deliver early intervention.
· Incentivising services which support people to live in their own homes and to participate in public life. This could include a service assumption that all people will be supported in their own homes coupled with an inspection and authority rating system which prioritises respect of people’s choice to receive support at home.
· Ensuring everyone has their human rights respected through all care providers (in every sector) being brought under coverage of the Human Rights Act.
The Our Lives Our Choices Lobby next Wednesday 11th June has just taken on added importance and urgency. Why? Because thanks to activity in the House of Lords we have a real prospect of securing at least one key plank of the Independent Living Bill: a right to portable support.
Baroness Jane Campbell intends to table an amendment creating a right to portable support at Report Stage of the Health and Social Care Bill later this month. The Conservatives and Lib Dems support the amendment and we think many Labour and cross-bench peers will too which means there is a real prospect of being able to force this provision into the Bill. Jane has given notice to the Government that she intends to put the issue to a vote at Report Stage.
Why is it important to lobby MPs on this now?
- pressure on Government from MPs now will increase the chances of them caving in before there is even a vote.
- in the event of the Lords voting for Jane’s amendment at report stage, the Government may consider trying to overturn it when the Bill returns to the House of Commons so we need MPs of all parties to send a strong message that they will vote to keep the provision in the Bill.
Jane is also intending to press for a provision in the Bill that would ensure there is a health/social care user (ie a disabled person) on the board of the new regulator, the Care Quality Commission. This person would chair a statutory user panel. We need to back Jane up on this too – if successful it would help put users and independent living at the heart of health and social care regulation.
And there’s more! Jane, Rosalie Wilkins and Lord Best have an amendment down to the Housing Bill – also in the Lords – to create a statutory duty on local housing authorities to run Disability/Accessible Housing Registers. Again, this is an issue we intend to play hard ball on.
So it’s show time! There was never a more important time for us to deliver a show of strength – outside Downing Street at the rally and at the mass lobby of Parliament.
If you want a right to portable support and other concrete legislative change that brings us closer to independent living you’d better come and tell your MP on Wednesday. These opportunities don’t come round very often.
Office for Disability Issues' Independent Living Strategy
On Monday 3rd March, Government published its Independent Living Strategy, the product of an eighteen month review led by the Office for Disability Issues. The strategy sets out a five-year cross-government plan for closing the gap between Government policy and the real experiences of disabled people on the ground. The aims are that by 2013 disabled people have more choice and control over how their needs for support and equipment are met and to make significant progress in tackling barriers to access to health, housing, transport, and employment opportunities.
The detail is largely a summary of existing initiatives. RADAR welcomed pledges such as
review charging policies against the Disability Equality Duty
moves to self-directed support
ensure all publicly funded housing meets the Lifetime Homes criteria by 2011
remove disincentives in the benefits system to disabled people taking up public appointments
‘initiatives’ to promote better understanding of independent living, boost disabled people’s leadership and involvement and develop user-led advocacy and brokerage.
However RADAR was disappointed that the radical reform programme wanted by disabled people was notably absent. The strategy does not tackle reform of eligibility criteria, protection against involuntary institutionalisation or the lack of portable support packages. Nor does the strategy accept that a new legislative framework is required to root independent living principles.
For RADAR's fuller response, an essential guide to key points of the strategy, analysis of its likely impact on our lives and suggestions of how everyone can be part of influencing what happens next, view our policy briefing. Awareness of the Disability Equality Duty, the Human Rights Act and UN Disability Convention can be used in practical ways to challenge policies and practices which restrict independent living today.
RADAR's Independent Living Strategy Policy Briefing (PDF)
RADAR's Independent Living Strategy Policy Briefing (Word Version)
Review of eligibility criteria - have your say
The Government have announced a review of eligibility criteria, which will be carried out by the Council for Social Care Inspection, to see how it can be improved. The CSCI must report by September 15th. The CSCI report on the State of Social Care 2006-7 stated that “most councils now only help people with ‘substantial’ or ‘critical’ needs, leaving many needing help to fend for themselves or rely on friends and family for support”.
The CSCI want to hear the experiences of people who use services as well as their carers, friends and families about the issues and problems associated with the current system for deciding who is eligible for council funding and support for social care services. There is an online survey (until May 9th) which you can complete, or you can send written submissions to FACS.Review@csci.gsi.gov.uk