England code of practice relaunched
Relaunch of the code of practice to enhance the effective delivery of the closure programme to support working between the ILF and local authorities in England.
The Independent Living Fund (ILF), the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) and the Local Government Association (LGA) are pleased to reaffirm their commitment to working in partnership under the principles of the joint code of practice to best support the effective transfer of ILF users to sole local authority support from 1 July 2015.
Read the Code of practice
The ILF relaunched its review programme on 7 March 2014 following the government announcement to close the ILF on 30 June 2015. The code of practice aims to enhance the effective delivery of the closure programme by setting out 10 key principles, which support partnership working between the ILF and local authorities in England.
Chief Executive of the ILF, James Sanderson, and joint chair of the ADASS physical disabilities network, John Nawrockyi, commented on their commitment to support effective arrangements for ILF users through the transition of their care and support to their local authority.
James Sanderson said:
This code of practice helps maintain our commitment to the principles of personalisation and outcome focused independent living support. Our users will have had a face to face visit from an ILF independent assessor and will be provided with an outcome-focused support plan to assist them in discussing their support arrangements with their local authority from July 2015.
John Nawrockyi added:
Councils are in a strong position to take up this work with their extensive experience of direct payments and personal budgets
Read the ILF closure programme
Contact
You can contact Jennie Walker, Head of Corporate Affairs, for more information, by:
- telephone – 0115 94 501 741
- email – jennie.walker@ilf.gsi.gov.uk
More information
The ILF is an Executive Non-Departmental Public Body of the Department for Work and Pensions and makes cash payments to over 15,000 disabled people with high support needs in all parts of the UK to assist with meeting the cost of the support they require to achieve independent living.
On 18 December 2012 the government announced the intention to close the ILF on 31 March 2015 with funding transferred to local authorities in England and to the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The legality of this decision was challenged in the High Court through judicial review proceedings and subsequently the Court of Appeal quashed the decision.
Following the Court’s decision, the Department for Work and Pensions told the ILF to stop all closure activity whilst they considered the implications.
On 6 March 2014, following careful consideration the Minister announced that the government had decided that the ILF will close on 30 June 2015 to ensure that social care support is delivered through the mainstream system, rather than 2 separate systems.
The ILF therefore relaunched its review programme on 7 March 2014 to deliver an effective transfer of support for ILF users.
The closure programme includes a face-to-face visit from an ILF independent assessor to discuss users’ current support arrangements with them and their local authority. This discussion is then used to produce a comprehensive and outcome-focused support plan to assist users and their local authorities to discuss support arrangements from July 2015.