The Down’s Syndrome Association (DSA) was delighted to hear about the successful High Court ruling against Norfolk County Council’s discriminatory charging policy, which forced adults with learning disabilities to pay more than they could reasonably afford towards the cost of their care.
The ruling, which was brought about by the mother of a young person with Down’s syndrome, highlights the cruelness of the current local authority system and that some local authorities are charging people with similar needs different amounts towards the cost of their care.
The DSA believes that the current system is extremely unfair and it allows individual local authorities to decide how much they are going to charge. It is a form of disability tax, it undermines the welfare benefits system and is very much against the spirit of promoting wellbeing, an important part of the duty of the local authority under the Care Act 2014.
We believe this the current system now needs to be urgently reviewed by the government to ensure that:
- The minimum income guarantee is increased to make sure that people with learning disabilities have a reasonable standard of living
- That they are not discriminated against and forced further into poverty by local authorities using financial pressure as the excuse
- All local authorities take account of the wider impact of poverty and damage to the physical and mental wellbeing of people with learning disabilities and recognise that this approach could actually increase dependency on care services in the long term
We will be taking our concerns to the Department of Health and Social Care.