DISABLED people in Dumfries and Galloway have launched a campaign – Right to A Real Life – to try to reverse a council decision on charging for care that is costing many dear. They say they are fighting back after the council chose to lower the income people aged under 60 can keep before they start being charged for services.
As well as a move that will mean many people facing charges who did not before, Dumfries and Galloway Council increased the amount it charges users for their care from 55 per cent to 65 per cent.
It means charges begin if you have income above £132, instead of £177, and they are 10 per cent higher than before.
It has provoked a political row, because a proportion of money distributed to councils by the Scottish Government for health and social care integration was specifically intended to reduce the impact of care charges. Labour-run Dumfries and Galloway’s share was £182,000 but, despite this cash, the charges have gone up.
Campaigners say rather than spend the money to make the lives of disabled people easier, the change will bring the authority an additional £423,000 a year in income. The local authority says it has no choice, because of the tough financial climate facing councils and the changes look worse because, historically, Dumfries and Galloway was significantly more generous than others in its charging policy.
One of those affected is Andrew Doyle, chairman of the Learning Disability Alliance Scotland (LDAS), who has helped launch Right to A Real Life. LDAS has previously campaigned against the charges imposed by many councils as a “care tax” on the disabled. Why, when national policies promote the independence and integration of disabled people, are they being charged so heavily for the very services that make that possible, it asks?
Mr Doyle describes the Dumfries and Galloway policy as an unfair attack on people who are paying between £25 and £35 a week more for the help they need. Some are having to pay up to £70 a week out of often limited incomes. “We are really worried people will stop their support and end up needing far more help when they get into a crisis,” he says. “This will put more pressure on the NHS. It doesn’t make sense.” The campaign is being closely watched on both sides. Other councils have introduced higher charges for disabled people to pay for their support and many are expected to try to hike those charges again next year.
The political row over the specifics of the case in Dumfries and Galloway is important. But LDAS feels this goes wider than local wrangling.
Care charging is an obvious example of the way that those who have least, and who are least able to resist, continue to pay the price of austerity. Why, on top of all the targeting of disability benefits, are disabled people being asked to pay significantly more to help balance the books?
There is a members’ debate at the Scottish Parliament next month to debate the ending of all care charges. Campaigners believe more MSPs are beginning to question the fairness of the “care tax”.
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