Petition Save the Independent Living Fund

The Government wants to close the Independent Living Fund which is used by 18,000 severely disabled people to live independently in the community instead of in residential care.

The average cost of the ILF is £345 a week compared to £738 in residential care – at Winterbourne View where disabled people were abused, it was £3,500. The ILF overheads are less than 2% compared to an average 16% for Local Authorities.

Government Minister Mike Penning says LAs can take over the ILF funding. However their budgets were cut by £991million in 2011, £890 million in 2012 and are being cut by 28% in 2013-15.

The Government tried to close the ILF before but was stopped by 5 disabled people who won in the Court of Appeal where it was ruled that equality duties had been breached. Despite this, the Minister says he will close the ILF by mid 2015.

We call on the Government to respect the court’s decision and maintain the ILF, reopen applications, and stop its assault on disabled people.