P-05-771 Reconsider the closure for the Welsh Independent
Living Grant and support disabled people to live independently
–
Correspondence from petitioner to Chair, 05.04.18
David J Rowlands AM
Chair
Petitions Committee
National Assembly for Wales
SeneddPetitions@assembly.wales
5th April 2018
Dear Mr Rowlands,
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to respond to
the letter you received from Huw Irancca- Davies AM regarding the
planned closure of the Welsh Independent Living Grant
(WILG).
I feel like a broken record having to repeat myself
time and again. Whatever evidence I provide regarding the
disastrous effects of transferring Independent Living funds to
local authorities in England, the Minister for Children and Social
Care seems to be burying his head in the sand. At the bottom of
this letter, I have included links to DWP and Inclusion London
studies on the impact of the closure of the Independent Living Fund
(ILF). These need to be read and digested to fully appreciate why
we should not follow the irresponsible and dangerous path taken by
the UK Government.
Please excuse me for having to repeat myself, but I
made several key points and raised important questions in my last
letter which were totally ignored. Subsequently, I find
myself having to raise these questions and observations once
again.
Please find attached my previous letter to Huw
Irranca-Davies that has not been addressed. With this in mind, I am
going to try and make things as clear as possible, in order to
emphasise just how serious and important this is:
- With
respect to Mr. Irranca-Davies when he says he “appreciates my
apprehension”, he cannot possibly do so. Unless you
have to go through this yourself, you cannot even begin to
comprehend the difficulties and shear frustration of having to
expend all your energy, campaigning for what is right while being
ignored by those in power.
- WHY are Welsh Labour making this dangerous change to start
with? DEMONSTRABLY this change is not, will not and
cannot be an improvement for existing WILG
recipients.
- As
things stand, even under WILG, I, and every other recipient I know,
already believe we have too much responsibility and too much to
worry about before we even have to deal with our health conditions
on top. The new proposal will mean this level of responsibility
will significantly increase. Not only this, but HID seems to not
recognise at all that most recipients of WILG will not be in a
position to take on these extra responsibilities, worries, admin
etc. This seems to have been completely ignored.
- Why
not wait until any independent investigation has come to it’s
conclusions BEFORE subjecting vulnerable people to even more
confusing, and unnecessary, change?
- Mr.
Irranca-Davies seems very confident, no matter how it is worded or
defended, that losing the ‘third arm’ of the support
triangle (the other two being local authorities and the
contribution of the recipient themselves) is nothing to worry
about. Recipients should not be made to have to battle with
hostile local authorities who are only concerned with their
budgets. Disabled people deserve independent representation so that
they can move forward with their lives with confidence instead of
trepidation. Demonstrably, local authorities are wildly
inconsistent, and therefore, the consequences of these changes will
be highly erratic and terrifying without the support of a third
party.
- If
HID and his team are working with Social Care Wales, as a WILG
recipient, I’d expect consultation for our input and
consideration. Disabled people should not be treated as mere
objects that need dealing with, but should be involved in matters
that will impact on their lives.
- I
would like to ask Mr. Irranca-Davies why it is that as a passionate
Welsh Labour party member and campaigner, he thinks I should have
to suffer like this? Why is it that our own MPs, AMs and EVERY
SINGLE PARTY MEMBER CONSULTED, TO A PERSON, is vehemently against
the scrapping of WILG? These people are willing to support me
consistently, in order to reverse a decision that should NEVER have
been made.
- HID admits that he expects these new changes to take time to
bed-in. Well, I am afraid time is a luxury I, and many WILG
recipients, do not have. As you are aware, I live with
Friedreich’s Ataxia. The average life expectancy for someone
with my condition is 35 years of age. I am 41. I am having to spend
what ever time I have left fighting against my own party, against a
decision no one outside of the authorities agrees with. That is not
fair. Yet, I HAVE to do this as my principles will not allow me to
simply sit back and watch, while Welsh Labour ignore all the
evidence in front of them and make a grave mistake that will
severely damage the disability rights movement in
Wales.
This is unbelievably difficult to write. I genuinely
hope it is hard to read, too. This is because I am afraid that the
people who desperately need to understand, simply do not get it. I
think another meeting with Mr. Irranca-Davies is urgently needed. I
cannot, and will not, give up the fight.
I look forward to Huw Irranca-Davies’ response.
Thank you very much indeed for facilitating things Mr.Rowlands, I
am grateful to you for doing this.
Yours in hope,
Nathan Lee Davies
Please find below links to three different reports
into the effects of the ILF closure in England:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-living-fund-post-closure-review
https://www.inclusionlondon.org.uk/campaigns-and-policy/facts-and-information/independent-living-social-care-and-health/ilf-one-year-on/
https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/independent-living-fund-shocking-drop-in-support-after-ilf-closure/Hide
original message
In addition, I have added some links below concerning my own
fight for the continuation of WILG:
http://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/2015/07/07/gallery/our-fight-to-fund-independent-lives-in-flintshire-and-wrexham-74959/#.VZu96zMTWf4.twitter
http://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/welsh-government-has-sold-disabled-people-down-the-river-on-post-ilf-plans/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-38385381?SThisFB
https://nathanleedavies.wordpress.com/save-wilg-campaign/
https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/disabled-activist-is-fighting-for-his-life-as-he-hands-petition-to-welsh-government/