About the ILF
The Independent Living Fund (ILF) is an Executive Non-Departmental Public Body of the Department for Work and Pensions. The sponsoring team within the department with responsibility for the ILF is the Disability and Carers Directorate.
We provide discretionary cash payments directly to disabled people so they can purchase care from an agency or pay the wages of a privately employed Personal Assistant (PA). This support enables disabled people to choose to live in their communities rather than in residential care.
Awards are made in the form of regular four-weekly payments to individuals, which are used to buy personal care and domestic assistance. Recipients may use care agencies or employ personal assistants, but may not employ relatives who live in the same house.
In December 2010, the Minister for Disabled People announced that the ILF is permanently closed to new applications. Our priority remains to deliver an excellent service to our users. This is informed by their experiences of getting our support.
An independent board of Trustees has responsibility for overseeing the governance of the organisation. The board meet on a monthly basis and they are responsible for developing the organisation's aims, objectives and goals in association with the Chief Executive and other senior executives. They are also responsible for ensuring sound management of the ILF's resources and expenditure.
We are based in Nottingham and around 120 staff help administer the ILF under the direction of a Chief Executive and a board of directors. There are also over 70 self-employed regionally based ILF assessors who visit our users on a regular basis.
History
The ILF was originally established in 1988, intended to run for 5 years. When the original Fund closed in 1993, two new Funds were created. The Extension Fund was created to administer the payments of people who applied between 1988 and March 1993 and who continued to receive awards under the old rules. The 1993 Fund was created with slightly different rules - mainly, the condition that Social Services should provide a weekly financial contribution - to take on new applications. By 2006, there were over 18,000 people using the ILF across the UK.
The two Funds were united by the Independent Living Fund (2006) Trust Deed as of 1 October 2007. The ILF continues to fund its existing users, but is permanently closed to new applications.