Disability Wales/Anabledd Cymru
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Submission to Richards Commission
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22 May 2003
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| The Powers of the National Assembly for Wales |
| In what practical ways do the powers of the Assembly,
or the limits on its powers, impinge on you, your organisation
or the people whom you serve and what are best examples
of this from your point of view? |
| Disability Wales/Anabledd Cymru (DW/AC) puts forward
the following example outlining where some progress has
been made on a particular issue affecting disabled people
attributable to the existence and current powers of the
Assembly. |
| Case Study |
| Disability Wales/Anabledd Cymru (DW/AC) co-ordinates
the Coalition on Charging Cymru, which is a network
of organisations concerned with the issues of disabled
people, older people and carers. Member groups include
Age Concern Wales, Mencap, Carers Wales, Arthritis Care
and Cardiff and Vale Coalition of Disabled People. The
Coalition, which has a counterpart in England was
set up to campaign for the abolition of local authority
charging for domiciliary care services to those assessed
in need of them. This is on the grounds that it is a secondary
tax, which has a disproportionate impact on those on the
lowest incomes. The vast majority of people who receive
community care are not working and live on benefits and/or
pensions and charging pushes many either further into
poverty or going without support services. |
| In February 2001 the NAfW followed the Department of
Health in England in producing draft guidance to local
authorities on 'fairer charging policies'. The document
followed in the wake of an Audit Commission report, which
heavily criticised 'the post-code lottery' of existing
charging policies in the UK. |
| In addition to producing a collective response as part
of the consultation process, the Coalition organised
a well-attended lobby of Assembly Members and a 'breakfast
briefing'. The Minister attended these as well as members
of the Health and Social Services Committee and Assembly
officials. |
| The Minister authorised research into the impact of
charging on local authorities which was undertaken by
Swansea University and formed part of the consultation
process. The Coalition sought and was granted representation
on the Assembly Steering Group overseeing the research. |
| The Coalition continued to correspond with the
Minister and brief key members from all parties on the
Health and Social Service Committee with such activity
intensifying on the occasions where community care charging
was debated at Committee meetings on 1 May and 6 November
2002. Briefings took the form of short meetings with individual
AM's and papers detailing the arguments surrounding the
complex nature of charging policies. Feedback from AM's
indicated that they found this very helpful and many of
our arguments were used in the debate. |
| The Assembly issued 'part one' of its Guidance in July
2002 and we noted that some of the points we had been
lobbying on including treatment of spouses' income, and
raising the savings threshold had been incorporated. Whereas
the original draft guidance had been almost identical
to the DoH version, concessions had been made in Wales
to the formal guidance, which were not achieved in England.
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| The Minister further announced the formation of a Working
Group to review matters relating to disability related
costs and disability benefits disregards. Recommendations
on how these matters are to be treated were to form 'part
two' of the Guidance to be implemented from April 2004.
Both were issues on which the Coalition had campaigned
and which again demonstrated progress on this issue compared
with England. The Coalition accepted the invitation
to appoint a representative to the Working Group. |
| In the run up to the Assembly elections, not only did
individual member organisations of the Coalition
feature the issue of charging in their respective manifestos
but so too did the four main political parties. In particular
Welsh Labour, which went on to form the Government, made
a specific manifesto pledge to "scrap Home Care charges
for disabled people". The Coalition has written
to the Minister requesting details of the timetable for
implementing this pledge. |
| It was understood by the Coalition that abolition
of charging could only be undertaken by central government
so it will be of some interest to see how the Assembly
Government will address this. |
| On a less positive note, following representations from
local authorities, the Assembly has agreed to give them
extra time to implement their Charging Policies in line
with 'part one' of the Guidance. They were required to
have these in place by 1 April 2003, but according to
an Assembly circular dated 5 April, they now have until
the end of the current financial year to do so. |
| From the Coalition's perspective this perpetuates
for up to a year inequality and hardship for disabled
people who require community care. |
| Analysis |
| As demonstrated through this case study the advent of
the Assembly has brought advantages to disabled people
in Wales compared with counterparts in England on the
specific issue of Community Care Charging: |
- The Coalition has been able to obtain direct access
to the Minister and key members of the Health and
Social Services Committee to promote its cause, which
would undoubtedly be more difficult at Central Government
level;
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- The Coalition has been able to place the issue of
charging within the context of Assembly duties on
equality; its policies on social inclusion, anti-poverty
and as contained in documents such as 'Better Health
- Better Wales'; and its adoption of the Social Model
of Disability in January 2002.
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- Individual disabled people have been able to take
part in the campaign by attending lobbies at the Assembly
which is accessible, writing to the Minister and their
AM and visiting him or her in surgeries. One AM arranged
to meet a constituent in her own home to discuss this
issue because, as a wheelchair user, it was more convenient.
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- The Assembly's powers to make secondary legislation
have been utilised on this issue, to the advantage
of disabled people, older people and carers in Wales.
It appears that Charging Policies will be at least
less stringent than that in England providing that
local authorities act in line with the formal guidance.
The choice, quality and availability of community
care services charged for or not remain a matter of
concern and in need of considerable attention.
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- If the Assembly had primary legislative powers it
could abolish the concept of charging rather than
what may be the present course of action, finding
the resources to meet the estimated £18 million shortfall
in income derived from charging faced by local authorities.
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- If the Assembly had primary legislative powers it
could require that local authorities took certain
action. The power of local authorities to decide their
own policies and spending priorities while democratically
accountable locally, leads to inequalities in service
provision and facilities across Wales which impacts
particularly negatively on groups such as disabled
people, older people and carers.
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- The effectiveness of the Coalition on Charging
has been in part due to the tenacity of those involved,
and the willingness of member organisations to commit
resources via staff time to working in partnership
on this issue. Some of these organisations receive
funding from the Assembly itself, however not all
groups have the ability to mount such a sustained
campaign let alone simultaneously across several subject
areas. Capacity issues amongst groups representing
those who are excluded or face discrimination in some
way must be addressed if even the existing powers
of the Assembly are to be fully utilised.
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| Conclusion |
| Where the Assembly has a specific remit for an issue
and the will of those in Government and the efficacy of
a campaigning group combine to progress the matter, real
change can be brought about to the benefit of people in
Wales. |
| For those that DW/AC represents, the Assembly is somewhat
removed from their everyday lives. The bodies that have
the real impact are the local authority, Bus Company,
social housing landlord or college. The extent to which
the Assembly can set a strategic agenda and influence
the policies and practice of such service providers to
ensure availability of, and equal access to quality services
that support inclusion remains to be fully tested. It
is likely to be proportional both to the Assembly’s
range of powers and their unfettered exercise. Thus extending
the range of the Assembly’s reach and the granting
of primary law making capacity will both be important
elements in establishing the Assembly at the fore-front
of both daily and public life in Wales. It is to be hoped
that this will be reflected in a higher turn out in the
Assembly election of 2007 than that achieved in May 2003.
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| DW/Consultations03/RichardCommission/Casestudy/RD/May03 |
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