News
Personal Independence Payment consultation
23 January 2012
The Department for Work and Pensions has launched a consultation to seek views on the second draft of the assessment criteria for Personal Independence Payment.
They are keen to hear from all interested parties but in particular from disabled people and disability organisations. They would like your views on:
- the changes that have been made since the first draft
- the proposed descriptor weightings and entitlement thresholds and
- the draft regulations.
You can find more information about the consultation on the Department for Work and Pensions website:
More Right to Control flexibility for ILF users
19 January 2012
The Independent Living Fund (ILF) Trust Deed has been updated to ensure greater flexibility within the Right to Control Trailblazers.
The changes mean that service users in Trailblazer areas can spend their ILF payments to assist them to live independently, within an agreed support plan. Previously, ILF payments could be used to purchase certain personal and domestic care tasks only.
Independent Living Fund appoints new Chief Executive
5 January 2012
The Trustees of the Independent Living Fund (ILF) are pleased to announce the appointment of James Sanderson as Chief Executive.
James has worked for the ILF in a number of senior roles, most recently as Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive.
Trustees respond to Caring for our Future
8 December 2011
The Trustees of the Independent Living Fund have submitted their response to the Department of Heath’s Caring for our Future engagement exercise.
- Caring for our future response (235KB)
Contribute to new disability strategy
8 December 2011
On 1 December 2011, the government announced a discussion with disabled people to gather suggestions for a new cross-government disability strategy.
The Office for Disability Issues has worked with disability organisations to create a discussion document which is available from their website. They would like to hear from disabled people, and the people and organisations that support them.
Please send your response by 5pm, 9 March 2012.
- Fulfilling potential – Working together to empower disabled people (Office for Disability Issues website)
Written ministerial statement about the ILF
5 December 2011
The Minister for Disabled People, Maria Miller, has made a written statement about the Independent Living Fund.
The statement reiterates that the Government is committed to consultation about how to support existing ILF users beyond this parliament. The consultation will now take place next spring within the context of reform of the wider care and support system.
- Written Ministerial Statement about ILF (Parliament website)
Chief Executive to leave the Independent Living Fund
2 December 2011
Independent Living Fund (ILF) Chief Executive, Patrick Boyle, has announced that he will leave the organisation at the end of December. Patrick, who has headed up the ILF for three years, is leaving to take up a post in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Patrick said, "I have found my three years with the ILF both challenging and enjoyable. I am proud of what we have achieved during this time, and of our continued commitment to our users."
Chair of ILF Trustees, Stephen Jack said, "Patrick has done an excellent job as Chief Executive of the ILF and seen it through a period of significant change. I wish him every success in his new role."
The process to recruit the next Chief Executive has already commenced.
Caring for our future
16 September 2011
On 15 September, the Government launched “Caring for our future: shared ambitions for care and support” .This aims to pinpoint the priorities for improving care and support in discussion with
- people who use care and support services,
- carers,
- local councils,
- care providers, and
- the voluntary sector.
The Government wants to hear your views on the future of care and support. What priorities do you think the Government needs to focus on to improve the care and support system? This will help inform its proposals on social care reform, and a progress report on funding reform, that will be published in spring 2012.
For more information see the Department of Health’s press release and visit the Caring for our future website.
- Caring for our future press release (Department of Health website)
- Caring for our future (Department of Health website)
Changes to ILF policy and procedure
22 August 2011
The Independent Living Fund (2006) Trust Deed and Conditions of Grant Agreement have been amended. The amendments to these documents have resulted in a number of changes to our policies and procedures. The changes include:
- increasing the amount of capital an ILF user is allowed to £23,250. This limit also applies to capital held in trust funds. We have updated our capital and trust funds policies to reflect this change.
- ILF only being able to offset charges made by local authorities that were in place on or before 20 August 2010. We can not take account of any subsequent changes.
- trustees can no longer use discretion to waive an ILF users available income.
- any users who take part in the Right to Control Trailblazers will be able to retain flexible arrangements beyond the completion date. This means that the flexibility can continue until their next review after December 2012.
- removing the word regular from the term ‘regular and ongoing’ in respect of local authority input. This means that local authority input must only be ongoing, and meet the threshold sum over the year on average for an ILF user to remain eligible.
In addition to the changes above, the ILF Trustees have also agreed that we can pay towards additional support during holiday periods. This is only allowed where we have previously made an offer of funding for holiday periods. Previously, we only allowed these payments where the extra support was to provide respite. We have updated our short-term care policy to reflect this change.
Trustees have also agreed that we can pay towards the cost of advertising in order to recruit personal assistants.
Annual report and accounts for 2010-11 published
18 July 2011
The Independent Living Fund has published its annual report and accounts for 2010-11.
Business plan for 2011-12 published
25 May 2011
The Independent Living Fund has published its business plan for 2011-12, setting out its aims and objectives for the year ahead.
ILF responds to independent living enquiry
6 May 2011
The Independent Living Fund has submitted its response to the Joint Committee on Human Rights independent living inquiry.
The Committee, chaired by Dr Hywel Francis MP, is conducting the inquiry into the right of disabled people to independent living as guaranteed by Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It invited interested persons and groups to submit evidence on this issue.
Our response has been informed by discussions with our users at recent regional user meetings and submissions they sent to us directly. Their views are represented in the second part of the document without edit. The first part constitutes our formal response with input from our Advisory Group.
The inquiry continues over the summer with a report likely to follow later in the year.
Think Local, Act Personal
21 April 2011
The Think Local, Act Personal Partnership has launched a new programme of sector-led support to continue efforts in transforming adult social care. It takes over from the Putting People First programme, which ended on 31 March 2011.
Over thirty national organisations representing the broad interest in personalisation and community-based support, including the Independent Living Fund, have committed to the Partnership. They will work to improve their practice in six priority areas as well as advising and influencing the Government and other bodies.
Miranda Wixon, chair of the Care Providers Alliance, and Richard Jones, outgoing Association of Directors of Adult Social Services president, will co-chair the Partnership initially. A citizen leader will be selected as a third co-chair shortly.
The Partnership will fund a limited number of projects and a small central delivery team. The Social Care Institute for Excellence will:
- be to host the small central team supporting the partnership,
- commission any work requested by the Partnership Board, and
- provide backroom services such as admin, finance, facilities and HR support as required.
At its first formal meeting in early April, Partnership members agreed six priority areas for action including:
- personalisation and personal budgets for people who need adult social care support
- developing cost effective and efficient solutions for the delivery of adult social care support
- developing the provider market and workforce of the adult social care sector
- building community capacity
- improving information to the public
- highlighting the importance of co-production
Over the summer, the Partnership will develop a work programme and benchmarks for the adult social care sector as a whole to assess their progress in delivering these six priorities.
To support this, the Partnership will also offer clear examples of innovative practice across the country where organisations and individuals are leading the way in delivering personalised and community-based support solutions for the delivery of adult social care support.
The Think Local, Act Personal Partnership will meet four times a year and will look to also host an annual event.
You can find more information on Think Local, Act Personal website:
You can also follow the Partnership on Facebook – www.facebook.com/thinklocalactpersonal
Government publishes response to DLA consultation
6 April 2011
The Government has published its response to the consultation on their proposal to replace Disability Living Allowance with a new benefit - the Personal Independence Payment.
The ILF submitted its own response to the consultation representing the views of disabled people who receive ILF funding.
Update for ILF in reform of public bodies proposals
4 April 2011
On 16 March 2011, the Cabinet Office issued an updated list of proposed reforms for public bodies.
The proposal for the Independent Living Fund (ILF) has been changed to 'Retained - consultation later in the year will determine how best to support ILF customers beyond this Parliament'.
This new proposal for the ILF is a clear progression from that given in the list of proposed reforms published on 14 October 2010, which said 'Under consideration - options still being considered'.
The ILF's position is in line with the statement made by the Minister for Disabled People on 13 December 2010. The Minister said that consultation about the future of the ILF would take place after the Commission on Funding of Care and Support publishes its findings this summer.
The Minister also said that the budget to support existing ILF users would be protected throughout this Parliament and would remain closed to new applicants.
The proposal for ILF is on page 35 of the updated list of public bodies (Cabinet Office website)
Inquiry into the right of disabled people to independent living
8 March 2011
The Joint Committee of Human Rights is conducting an inquiry into the implementation of the right to independent living for disabled people, as guaranteed by Article 19, UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Committee invites interested people and groups to submit written evidence on this issue by Friday 29 April 2011.
The committee particularly welcomes evidence from disabled people and their families about how Government policy and legislation, and the activities of public authorities, can implement this right in practice. They would also welcome evidence on whether existing policy statements represent a coherent policy towards the implementation of obligations in Article 19 UN Convention on Rights of People with Disabilities, and on these recent developments:
- The decision announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review to remove the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance for all people living in residential care
- Changes to the Independent Living Fund
- The "Big Society"
- Restrictions on local authority funding, social care budgets and benefits reassessments
- Increased focus on localisation and its potential impact on care provision, and, specifically, on portability of care and mobility for disabled people
The ILF is encouraging its users to respond to the inquiry, either directly to the Committee, or by sending their evidence to us so we can forward it on their behalf. We will use any responses we receive to inform the ILF submission to the Committee.
If you want to send your response to the ILF you can do so using the details below. Please mark any correspondence with 'independent living'.
By post:
Independent Living Fund
Equinox House
Island Business Quarter
City Link
Nottingham
NG2 4LA
email: funds@ilf.org.uk
Full details about the inquiry and how to respond are on the Parliamentary website.
- Inquiry into the right of disabled people to independent living - call for evidence (Parliament website)
ILF response to the DLA consultation
23 February 2011
The ILF has responded to the Department for Work and Pensions' consultation on their proposal to replace Disability Living Allowance with a new benefit - the Personal Independence Payment.
Our response is based on the views of disabled people who receive funding from us. We have gathered these views from our regular programme of user meetings across the UK and from our Advisory Group made up of ILF users, trustees and organisations of disabled people.
ILF responds to the Commission on Funding of Care and Support
17 February 2011
In response to the call for evidence from the Commission on Funding of Care and Support in England, the ILF says disabled people with high support needs require dedicated support to achieve independent living. We believe that a specific source of ring fenced funding for independent living with effective client support is necessary to enable disabled people to live the same active lives as non-disabled people in their local community. This is irrespective of who is charged with providing it.
Nick Danagher, ILF Trustee and Chair of the ILF Advisory Group of disabled people said,
"Our experience shows that effective support comes from combining funding from local authorities with extra support from the benefit system that is focused on independent living, and puts money directly under the control of disabled people to buy and organise the support they need to live at home and be active citizens like anyone else. Local authorities focus on critical care needs and struggle to find the money to support independent living outcomes for their service users. Even in difficult economic times, everyone should have the right to live in their own home."
In submitting its evidence, the ILF acknowledges that prioritisation is essential in the difficult financial climate, and consultation is needed on how support should be delivered in the future.
Ministers want the future of the ILF to be considered through consultation in light of the Commission’s findings expected later this year.
Disability Living Allowance consulation
13 January 2011
The Government is currently running a consultation seeking views on its proposals to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) with a new benefit – the Personal Independence Payment. The Personal Independence Payment will be a non-means tested benefit to cover the extra costs a person faces due to their circumstances. It will help disabled people remove the barriers they face to leading full and independent lives. This consultation asks for views to inform the Government’s policy for reforming DLA and introducing a new objective assessment. The consultation applies to England, Wales and Scotland.
The consultation is aimed primarily at disability organisations and disabled people, but the Government would like to hear from anybody who is interested.
The consultation closes on 14 February 2011.
Government safeguards funding for ILF recipients
13 December 2010
Maria Miller, the Minister for Disabled People, said in a written statement today that the Government will, "fully protect the programme budget for existing recipients of the ILF within DWP", and "support the ILF to continue to administer existing awards" throughout this Parliament.
Stephen Jack, Chair of the ILF Trustees said,
"The ILF board of Trustees has worked closely with the Government over the last few months to help it consider options for the future of the ILF. We are pleased that the Government shares our first priority in committing to safeguarding the position of existing recipients of the fund."
- Written Ministerial statement for the Independent Living Fund (17KB)
- Press release - Government safeguards funding for ILF recipients
The ILF website has moved
15 October 2010
As part of an on-going initiative to converge Government information on to a small number of customer centred websites, the ILF website has merged with Directgov and the DWP website.
We have reviewed all the information on our website. The new content on Directgov will provide all the information users need but in a different format and structured to reflect the journeys our customers go through. You can see this at the ILF on Directgov.
Our corporate information, such as policy documents, corporate publications, and information about our business and how it works, is on this site.
We hope that our users, disabled people, local authorities and other people we work with, will benefit from these changes.
Local Authority charge policy update
23 August 2010
An amendment to the Independent Living Fund's Conditions of Grant Agreement (COGA) has been approved by the Department for Work and Pensions. The change means that we will no longer take account of any increased local authority charges.
To reflect the change to our COGA, we have updated our Changes to Local Authority Charges and Available Income policies (create link to policies).
This policy change helps us continue to safeguard our existing users’ packages and combat the additional pressure that increased local authority charges place on our available resources.
All cases that we have not yet processed will be treated under our new policy. We will write to each of our users and their local authority representative, to let them know the outcome.
We have also written to our network of local authority contacts to advise them of this policy update.
ILF protect users awards to manage within funding
17 June 2010
The Independent Living Fund (ILF) has taken further steps necessary as care package costs rise, to protect its existing users and manage within its allocated budget for 2010-11.
In order to safeguard existing users' awards, the ILF will not be accepting any new applications for the remainder of the year, and is unable to make any further awards, except those they have already agreed to fund. The ILF will be able to help some 600 new ILF users in this financial year as a result of offers of funding already made.
The measures will ensure that the existing 21,000 ILF users' awards continue at their current level. However, the ILF cannot afford to increase individual awards above the amount already paid, other than additional support to meet some of their employer responsibilities, and in response to certain changes in their income.
Explaining the position, Patrick Boyle, ILF Chief Executive, said, "Our first priority is the 21,000 disabled people we currently support to achieve high quality independent lives. Our Trustees have acted quickly in their decision to protect this group and to meet their responsibility to manage within budget.
"We are committed to continuing and developing the excellent service we deliver to our users, allowing them greater flexibility in how they choose to manage their funding."
The ILF is writing to all applicants and existing users to make them aware of these latest steps and is continuing its dialogue with local authority partners, disabled people's organisations and others.
Policy and website update
18 March 2010
On 18 March 2010 the ILF announced its Trustees decision to prioritise applications from people in paid employment of 16 hours or more per week. You can read the full announcement in our Press releases.
Following this announcement we have amended the relevant sections of our website, explaining who can apply and how.
We have also amended our Application Selection Criteria policy to reflect our application priority group. The policy now also includes guidance when considering if an ILF applicant is in “paid employment” for 16 hours per week or more.
We have also updated our Local Authority Threshold Sum policy to reflect the increase in the threshold sum from £320 per week to £340 per week.
Our Increase requests policy formalises our approach when considering requests for increases from our existing users.
All of our policies are available to view on this website.