Disability Rights UK have slammed plans to remove the rights of Disabled people to at-home care by Bristol Council as “absolutely unacceptable” and in breach of law.
In letters to the Mayor of Bristol and the Leader of Bristol’s Green Group, our CEO Kamran Mallick said that it was “absolutely unacceptable” that the draft policy talks about overriding the option to receive care and support in the home if the council decides that this would not achieve “best value.”
He went on to say that while “councils need to have regard to their wider obligations to the public… at no point should this strategic consideration mean that individual Disabled citizens are refused care and support at home because it is more expensive than residential accommodation. The draft policy, as stated, is incompatible with the rights we are granted under the Care Act 2014.”
The Care Act requires local authorities to promote citizens’ well-being and meet eligible care and support needs in the way that best suits the person.
He continued: “The draft “Fair and affordable care” policy is nowhere near strong enough in setting out the council’s Care Act duties to promote well-being, provide person-centred support and meet eligible needs.
“We see no way to make this policy workable and would ask that it is withdrawn.
Disability Rights UK is encouraging Disabled people in Bristol to write to their local councillors to stop the proposed policy from being implemented. We have created a template letter that local residents can use to express their desire for the policy to be scrapped.
Want to stop this policy? Write to your councillor to demand that the policy be scrapped.
UPDATE - DPO OPEN LETTER SIGNED, JANUARY 15TH
As part of this campaign, DR UK signed the joint open letter co-ordinated by BRIL with WinVisible, which also highlighted that the policy is likely to disproportionately affect those of us from communities of colour, including because those of us from this group more often can’t afford to pay privately for carers, so rely more on social care services. It would also disproportionately affect Disabled women in particular ways. A policy which exacerbates such long-standing inequalities across communities cannot be introduced.
Our letter stressed that we see no way to make this policy workable and would ask that it be withdrawn. Bristol Council should focus on working to further provide care and support to Bristol residents based on their personal preferences and eligible needs. We pointed out that in their 2021 Manifesto, the Mayor committed to independent living for Disabled people. Yet the proposed policy would directly contravene the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. As Disabled people, we have a human right to access support services and have as much choice and control over our lives as others, with equal value and dignity. The proposed policy directly contradicts this.