20/09/2011

The research, conducted by Demos, used data obtained from Freedom of Information requests submitted to all local authorities in England and Wales.

Authorities were then ‘ranked’ according to how budgetary changes were impacting on a range of front-line services to disabled people. London local authorities appeared both in the bottom 10 (City of London, Westminster, Lambeth) and top 10 (Islington and Merton) nationally by this measure.

The researchers noted the very poor data profile that most authorities had of disabled people in their areas, saying that without much better data ‘it is clearly impossible to carry out an accurate impact assessment of budgetary decisions’. The report recommended that ‘the first step for many local authorities must surely be to develop more effective ways to gather data and carry out robust local impact assessments of their budgetary decisions.’

The research found a significant increase in the number of authorities tightening up criteria for care funding, concluding that ‘Thousands of care users in 14 local authorities have lost eligibility for council funded support this year, and the withdrawal of support is imminent for people in another three local authorities.’

In relation to personal budgets the report found that local authorities were using their discretion over resource allocation to systematically give ‘care users less in cash than the value of care they had previously been receiving directly from the council.’ They conclude that there is a ‘real risk that personal budgets will simply become a cost cutting tool rather than a way of giving more choice and control to care users’.

The full report can be found at the following link: www.scope.org.uk/news/local-cuts-report

Information on the impact of planned cuts on disabled people in London can also be found at Inclusion London’s ‘All in this together?’ report.