Our Lives, Our Choices: the campaign for rights to independent living
1/01/2006 – 03/03/2010
Our Lives, Our Choices
NCIL helped set up Our Lives, Our Choices to campaign for the Independent Living Bill and rights to independent living. The coalition represents disabled people, older people and carers'' organisations and individuals who support independent living.
At NCIL, we have campaigned for independent living since our inception. Many of our member groups find themselves increasingly inundated with local disabled people who are struggling to keep their lives together and to stay independent in the face of adult social care service restrictions. It seems for many people that independent living is slipping further away. At the same time, national Government rhetoric consistently advocates empowerment, choice, control and personalisation.
But the current local situation means that many disabled people are denied real independence. Many older people also require care services and share the same experience. Restricted services for disabled and older people means carers have had to bridge the ‘care gap'' and are often disadvantaged as a result. Our Lives, Our Choices represents disabled people, older people and carers as all are affected by the current adult care service crisis. We represent millions of families all over the country.
One of the central aims of Our Lives, Our Choices is to get the ‘Disabled Persons (Independent Living) Bill'' adopted as law. We call it the Independent Living Bill.
The Independent Living Bill
NCIL supported the DRC to draft the Bill as a ‘private'' (i.e. not Government) piece of legislation for Lord Ashley of Stoke, the veteran equality campaigner.
The Bill, if enacted, would:
1) Establish new principles of service delivery supporting independent living. Principles which would: better enable choice, control and participation; better protect dignity and respect for family life; and better safeguard the health and well-being of carers, avoiding undue dependency.
2) Enshrine rights to independent living through: stronger co-operation of the range of agencies/services needed to deliver independent living; guaranteed entitlements to services across the country; ensuring single, self-directed assessments; access to advocacy; and enabling people to transfer care packages from one part of the country to another. The Bill would also guarantee genuine support options – how support or resources are received/used and where to live for example.
3) Formally ensure all care providers are covered by the Human Rights Act (closing the current legal loophole).
4) Facilitate greater accessible housing, including by: ensuring local housing authorities use disability housing services to ensure disabled people can access properties which match needs; emphasising supporting people in the community; strengthening planning for the future housing needs of all local citizens; and making Lifetime Homes Standards mandatory.
This Bill offers the opportunity to change the way social care works and to begin to move to a more equal, inclusive, fair and just society.
Campaign Launch, 18th June 2007
Our Lives, Our Choices was officially launched on 18th June 2007 including through a rally at Downing Street and speeches in Westminster.
Lord Ashley of Stoke, the lifelong disability equality campaigner and ‘Disabled Persons (Independent Living) Bill'' author spoke, followed by Roger Berry MP, the Commons supporter of the Bill.
Jenny Watson, Chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission, Jane Campbell, Commissioner at the Equality and Human Rights Commission and Dot Gibson of the National Pensioners Convention also addressed a packed room of Parliamentarians and campaigners.
National Lobby of Parliament, 17th October 2007
We also held a national lobby of Parliament to support the Independent Living Bill on the 17th October 2007. Over 200 people representing groups, organisations and individuals across the country came to speak to their MPs about the social care crisis they and their families face.
The Secretary of State for Health, Alan Johnson MP, attended the lobby and met the Chair of an organisation based in his constituency. He said that the Government supports the Independent Living Bill''s principles but that it is too big and too expensive to implement in full.
Our Lives, Our Choices believes that current care services are not valued correctly however. There is significant waste of resources for example, that could be better used and would generate better results – for example not block contracting with residential care providers and providing more Direct Payments and Individual Budgets. There are also costs generated through a system in crisis: current services mean avoidable health services are over-used, benefits and pensions are required to a higher level than if people were supported through independent living; and carers leave work to provide support that might be better provided by formal support services.
Next steps
The Government announced on 9th October 2007 in the Comprehensive Spending Review that adult care services will receive a real terms increase of just 1% in the next financial year – despite increasing demands for services, rising service costs and ever-tightening eligibility criteria. This will make the crisis worse. More action is required now.
To see the OLOC response to the announcement of the Government''s new adult social care Concordat on 10th December 2007 please see the link below.
Lord Ashley has re-tabled the Bill in the House of Lords. It received a Second Reading on Friday 14th December 2007. It will now go into a Lords Committee in early 2008. A briefing for the 2nd Reading is available at the link below. NCIL co-founder, Baroness Campbell, spoke in the Lords debate and her speech is also attached below.
Roger Berry MP tried very hard to secure the Bill some time in the House of Commons but did not get into the top ten of the Private Members Bill ballot. None of the MPs in the top ten agreed to table the Independent Living Bill. This is disappointing but Our Lives, Our Choices will be seeking other opportunities to highlight the provisions of the Independent Living Bill during discussions on Government legislation, such as the Health and Social Care Bill, and on the plans for an adult social care reform green paper.
Roger Berry MP has also tabled a new Early Day Motion in the House of Commons highlighting Independent Living and Our Lives, Our Choices. It is EDM 348 and more information is provided at the link below, including how to find out if your MP has support Roger''s EDM. Make sure your MP signs up!
NCIL will also be linking Our Lives, Our Choices Lord Ashley''s Bill to hopefully influence the Government''s plans for adult social care reform. The Government will launch its consultation Green Paper on reform in 2008.
For more information on the campaign, Our Lives, Our Choices or on NCIL work in this area contact policy@ncil.org.uk
To purchase a copy of the Our Lives, Our Choices CD-ROM for £5, click on the order form or contact info@ncil.org.uk.
Local Authority social care budget lobbying info (pdf)
OLOC lobby review Nov 2007 (doc)
Response to the new social care Concordat (doc)
Independent Living Bill House of Lords Second Reading Briefing Dec 07 (doc)
Early Day Motion 348 info (doc)