High Court to rule over abolition of disabled Independent Living Fund

A challenge over the government’s decision to scrap a scheme that helps some disabled people live independently will be ruled on today at the High Court.

Five disabled people haved mounted the challenge, including a man from Walthamstow.

Their lawyers are asking Mr Justice Blake, sitting in London, to declare “unlawful” the consultation process that led to the proposed axing of the £320million Independent Living Fund (ILF).

One of the five applicants for judicial review is Gabriel Pepper, from Walthamstow, who accused the government of imposing “appalling cuts” which were “a vicious attack on the disabled”.

Campaigners from all over the country, many in wheelchairs, attended the hearing of the case at the Royal Courts of Justice in March.

The five are among 19,000 people who currently receive money from the ILF, which the government plans to scrap in 2015. The average pay-out is £300 a week per recipient.

Click here for more..

High Court allows tenants' bedroom tax challenge

 

Disabled social housing tenants affected by the bedroom tax have been granted permission to challenge the controversial policy in the High Court.

The two tenants, represented by law firm Leigh Day, argue that the bedroom tax is discriminatory as it will have a disproportionate impact on disabled people. Under the bedroom tax, which comes into effect on Monday, social housing tenants deemed to have a spare room will have their benefit reduced.

The tenants have been given permission to launch a judicial review against the policy. The challenge will be heard in early May.

Ugo Hayter, of Leigh Day, who is representing a number of disabled clients challenging the legislation, said: ‘This is an excellent result and the first step in over ruling what we believe is an unfair piece of legislation which has a disproportionate negative consequences on disabled people and is therefore discriminatory.

‘We urge the government to think again and not to punish the most vulnerable for what are negligible savings, the court has ordered an urgent hearing at the beginning of May, we hope that this will mean that the terrible anxiety our clients and many others are currently facing will be shortlived.’

Jacqueline Carmichael is one of the tenants represented. Ms Carmichael is severely disabled with spina bifida and is cared for by her husband who lives in their two bedroom home. Leigh & Day said that Mrs Carmichael’s condition means she has to sleep on an electronic pressure mattress in a fixed position.

Lawyers will argue that Mr Carmichael is therefore unable to sleep in the bed with her and needs a separate room. Another tenant represented, Mr Rourke, is a disabled widower and shares a three bedroom property with his stepdaughter who has muscular dystrophy. Lawyers will argue that the third room is a small ‘box room’ used to store equipment and is not a bedroom.

The government argues that the bedroom tax will encourage people to downsize and free up larger social homes.

Source: insidehousing.co.uk

Appeal plans axed following bedroom tax changes

The government has ditched plans to appeal a legal ruling concerning a housing benefit claim for disabled children following changes to its ‘bedroom tax’ announced yesterday.

The Department for Work and Pensions has issued an urgent bulletin saying it will not take its appeal over the ‘Gorry versus Wiltshire Council’ case to the Supreme Court.

The Court of Appeal ruled in May last year the local housing allowance size criteria discriminated against the Gorry family on grounds of disability.

One child had spina bifida and the other had Down’s Syndrome. The court ruled children with severe disability could not always be expected to share a bedroom because of additional needs they may have due to their disability.

Housing benefit rules state children under the age of 10 should share a room regardless of gender, and those under the age of 16 should share if they are the same sex. The Gorry case related to a claim for housing benefit to cover private rented sector costs, but the same size criteria will be used for the social housing sector under the ‘bedroom tax’, which comes in from 1 April.

This will reduce housing benefit payments for social housing tenants of working age who are deemed to be under-occupying. Yesterday work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith announced exemptions for foster carers and parents of members of the armed forces. He also said guidance would make it clear that councils should use discretionary payments to support families with severely disabled children. Click here for more

POLICE’S HEAVY RESTRAINT OF SEVERELY AUTISTIC AND EPILEPTIC CHILD ‘UNJUSTIFIABLE’

Today the Court of Appeal ruled that “nothing could justify” the way in which seven Metropolitan Police officers heavily restrained a severely autistic and epileptic child – known as “ZH” – while he visited a local swimming pool.

During the trip ZH, who cannot swim, became fixated by the water – a common reaction of those suffering from autism. He presented no danger but the pool manager called police. On arrival officers failed to consult ZH’s carers and touched him on the back and started talking directly to him – prompting the child to jump into the water. He was then removed from the pool and forcibly restrained by seven police officers. ZH was placed in handcuffs and leg restraints and put into a cage at the back of a police van. His detention lasted around 40 minutes.

ZH was left frightened and distressed – suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and an exacerbation of his epilepsy. The County Court originally upheld his father’s claims against the Metropolitan Police for assault, battery and false imprisonment, disability discrimination and violations of Articles 3, 5 and 8 of the Human Rights Act – no inhuman or degrading treatment, the right to liberty and the right to respect for private and family life. But the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police appealed – bringing the case back before the Court of Appeal. Click here for more

'£907m funding gap' for adult social care in London by 2018

Even with efficiency savings, councils will not close the funding gap, according to new report.

The funding gap for providing adult social care in London could be as much as £907m within five years, according to a new report published on Wednesday.

The research, carried out by thinktank and lobbying organisation London Councils, and supported by Ernst & Young, found a growing demand for services means even if local authorities in the captial are successful in making savings, this would not be sufficient.

The report, A Case for Sustainable Funding for Adult Social Care, estimates that London councils have the potential to make combined efficiency savings of between £240m and £735m but that leaves a funding gap.

Sarah Sturrock, strategic lead for health and adult services at London Councils, called the potential funding gap "large and scary" and stressed that local authorities could not close it on their own. "Even with all the things that local government might do, there's still going to be a large funding gap within the next five years," she said.

The only way the gap can be bridged, the report concludes, is if the government increases borough funding allocations or reforms how adult social care is funded.

Click here for more

Every child visiting A&E to be logged in national database from 2015

New £9m child protection system intended to help medical staff spot abuse and avoid cases such as that of Baby Peter.

Every child who visits hospital accident and emergency departments or has out-of-hours GP consultations will be logged in a national database from 2015.

The child protection information system is designed to help doctors and nurses spot children who are suffering from abuse or neglect and avoid cases such as that of Baby Peter, said health services minister Dan Poulter.

Medical staff will be able to see if the children they treat are subject to a child protection plan, meaning they have already been identified as being at risk.

Doctors and nurses will also be able to check if a child has been a frequent visitor to A&E over a period of time – an indication of abuse or neglect.

Poulter said: "Doctors and nurses are often the first people to see children who are victims of abuse.

Click here for more

Attendance allowance could unlock power of information in social care

If the full potential of online information portals is to be realised, then the government needs to think about the attendance allowance system.

While social care funding reform appears to be stalling, elsewhere in social care policy, new and interesting developments are emerging off the back of the government's white paper.

One of the most exciting is the push toward online information portals for social care, and the development of e-marketplaces in which individuals and families can identify and buy services.

The government wants all local authorities to radically improve their online information and support services, and has promised £32.5m of start-up funding to help them do so.

However, one of the biggest challenges for this agenda will simply be achieving scale. To remain viable, online information portals will require traffic. And with their higher costs, e-marketplaces for care services will even more urgently need visitors and care users to adopt new ways of commissioning and paying for services.

The Department of Health's own figures suggest local authorities fund home care for 532,000 older people and 350,000 working age adults. If half of these individuals and their families were to be successfully nudged by councils into becoming regular users of online care portals, this will still be less than half a million people.

Click here for more