Bath & North East Somerset Council
Request for Information
Requested Information
Following the new decision by the Government to close the ILF (Independent
Living Fund) on June 30th 2015 and devolve funding to Local Authorities,
please could you answer the following questions.
1: Will monies transferred from the closure of the ILF to your local authority
be ring fenced to ILF recipients in your area? If no decision has yet been
taken, what is the process and timescale for this happening?
2: Please could you state the process and timescale for meeting with current
ILF recipients to prepare personal care plans for 1st July 2015 onwards
(bearing in mind the assessments at the Transfer Review visits only indicate
desired outcomes and do not produce an actual care package).
3: Will you be making any special dispensation for allowing ILF users to
continue to employ their current & in many cases long standing carers of
many years, bearing in mind some may be paid a higher rate than what LA's
may usually advise and be family members too?
Response
The Local Authority has a small working group, who are responsible for
planning and implementing the ILF transfer programme when the scheme
closes on the 30th June 2015.
We are currently undertaking some detailed analysis of the data provided by
the ILF which will help inform some of the decisions we will need to make,
particularly around the alignment of ILF policies and process and the Local
Authority policies and process as we want to ensure a smooth a transition as
possible. This is particularly important for people who manage their own
support and employ personal assistants and want to continue doing this post
June 2015.
Following a regional meeting with the ILF in October 2014, the working group
will be providing a report by December 2014, setting out the working group’s
proposals for both the short and longer term care management and financial
arrangements for the ILF recipients transferring to the Local Authority. This
will, in turn, inform the necessary decision making process. We anticipate
being able to notify all of the ILF recipients of the decision and plans for the
transfer in early 2015.