From June recipients of the Independent Living Fund are set to benefit from a reduction in the available income charge – the threshold for payments to be made that has previously been described as “effectively a tax on being disabled”.

The Scottish government has pledged more money for the Independent Living Fund (ILF) – which currently supports around 2,600 Scots – meaning the available income charge will be reduced from a maximum of £83 to £43 per week.

However, ministers have stopped short of reopening the ILF to new people.

Speaking at the Self-Directed Support Scotland National Voice Conference today, Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said the ILF had been a “great source of support for disabled people, their families and carers”:

“The dedication of its staff during the pandemic provided invaluable help for people in meeting the challenges they face on a daily basis.

“I hope this will greatly improve the lives of the almost 1,000 severely disabled people currently in receipt of the fund.”

Last year an open letter to the Health Secretary from a coalition of organisations representing disabled people and carers called for the ILF to be reopened.

Established in 1988, the ILF provided financial support for disabled people who wanted to live in the community rather than in residential care, but it was closed to new applicants in 2010.

The Independent Review of Adult Social Care, led by Derek Feeley which reported in February, suggested nearly 3,500 people could benefit from funding to support their wellbeing and independence if the ILF was reopened.

The Review stated the fund should be part of the future of adult social care centred around a national care service:

“In effect, it will provide a national service of self-directed support to people with the most complex needs in the country.

“…To ensure that the fund focuses on people with the most complex needs, we recommend that the threshold sum for entry to the new scheme should be reviewed and adjusted.”

The report added: “To give some indication of the likely additional costs, if the threshold sum for new entrants was set at £600 per week, an additional investment of £32m would be required, increasing the total fund value to £85m p.a.”

The Glasgow Disability Alliance (GDA) has warmly welcomed today’s announcement, with the organisation’s CEO Tressa Burke stating:

“GDA Members who are social care users have for many years been plunged into poverty as an unintended consequences of the charges they pay towards their care – charges which are effectively a tax on being disabled.

“We therefore warmly welcome today’s announcement from the Cabinet Secretary that the Scottish government will invest in the ILF Scotland to enable reduction of these charges from £83 to £43 per week.

“This is a positive and welcome step in the right direction and will make an immediate and significant contribution towards improving lives and enforcing the human rights of disabled people.”

The government is also currently working with Social Work Scotland to introduce a new SDS framework of standards, the Health Secretary said, to help ensure a human rights-based approach is “delivered consistently” across the implementation of SDS.

Disabled people’s organisation Inclusion Scotland also welcomed the fund but said it wants to see the government go further and heed calls to reopen it. Director of Leadership and Civic Participation Dr Pauline Nolan said:

“Inclusion Scotland welcome this news that will benefit those disabled people using the Independent Living Fund.

“We would also like to see the Scottish government to go a step further and allow the ILF to be opened up to new applications."

Dr Nolan added: “We remain opposed to care charges for social care support, which we believe is a tax on disabled people to achieve equality with non-disabled people. We hope the next Scottish government agrees.”

Read more: Social care review: What does the report say?; Unlocking a different approach to social care; Charities’ joint call to address social care ‘chasm’; Self-Directed Support six years on

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