Financial Assistance

Independent Living Fund

Aims

The aim of the Independent Living Fund (ILF)is to help severely disabled people who meet its eligibility criteria to:

live in their own homes rather than in residential or nursing care
have greater opportunities for choice and control in their individual care arrangements.

It does this by making cash awards which help pay for the costs of employing one or more assistants to provide personal and / or domestic care. The 93 Fund works in partnership with local authorities to enable jointly financed packages of care to be jointly arranged.

Background

The Independent Living Fund originally operated between 1988 and 1993. This was a charitable trust funded solely by central government but under independent directorship of a board of trustees.

It was established as the government's response to concerns about changes brought about by the 1986 Social Security Act, which replaced Supplementary Benefit with Income Support. These changes had reduced the income available to some disabled people who might as a result have been forced into residential care.

The original Fund was seen as an interim measure until the full implementation of the 1990 NHS and Community Care Act, which transferred to local authorities the control of social security money previously used to fund residential care. This money could now be used for residential or, alternatively, community care.

The Act was implemented in April 1993 and the Fund was then closed, but the popularity of direct cash payments to disabled people had been demonstrated and there was a strong lobby for retaining similar provision. Local authorities were legally barred from making direct payments to individuals, so the outcome (through the 1993 Disability Grants Act) was the establishment of two successor ILFs.

One, the Independent Living Extension Fund would continue the administration of payments to the clients of the original Fund.
A second, the Independent Living (1993) Fund (now more commonly known as the 93 Fund), would accept new applications, but on a different basis.

Both Funds cover England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Criteria

Applicants must meet the following criteria:

Be at least 16 years of age and under 66 at application
Be receiving, or be entitled to receive, the highest care component of Disability Living Allowance
Need more care at home than he /she can afford and the local authority can provide in order to live in the community rather than in residential care
Live alone or with people who are unable to fully meet his or her care needs
Have joint savings / capital of less than £18,500 and an income which is insufficient to cover the cost of the care needed
Receive a minimum of £200 per week net either in services (direct or indirect), day centre provision, residential respite or direct payments from their local Social Work Service.
Be expected to live in the community for at least the next 6 months

There are a number of cases where a person may meet the above criteria but the ILF is unable to help. These are cases where a person:

may have a Section under the Mental Health Act
is receiving a Resource Transfer or its equivalent

Resource Transfer

If a person was once a long stay hospital patient, and the hospital have discharged their responsibilities by making a lump sum resource transfer to Social Work for their ongoing care needs, the Funds cannot be involved with the case. If however the person has never been a long stay hospital patient and the Health Authority have agreed to fund current health care needs by way of a resource transfer then ILF can be involved.

Mental Health Act

There are a number of sections under the Mental Health Act 1984 that restrict a person's independent living. If someone would like to make an application and they are under a section the advice is to phone ILF to discuss the situation first.

Contact

To discuss any application please phone Customer Services on 0845 601 8815. This is a "local rate" number. This means that the cost of telephoning the Fund will be the same as making a local call, no matter where you are in the country.

E-mail: funds@ilf.org.uk
Website: www.ilf.org.uk

The postal address is:

The Independent Living Fund
PO Box 7525
Nottingham
NG2 4ZT