Page 23 - Community Living Magazine 36-1

column: Chris Hatton

Financial decisions affect people’s

lives – so they should have their say

People with learning disabilities are often absent when it comes
to talking about money matters. And a lot of these relate to
individuals having control over how they live

here is a lot of media talk about Almost 50,000 adults with learning allowance in May 2021. This is an increase
money relating to people with disabilities are living with their families of 34% across all benefits since May 2018.
Tlearning disabilities right now. in England. Is this what people and How stressful is life under ESA, with its
This includes the (under)funding of families want? threat of sanctions, or having to undergo
services and cuts, the amount of public A largely invisible homelessness crisis PIP assessments and reassessments?
money spent on services for people with is looming. The number of households
learning disabilities, poor staff pay and with a person with learning disabilities Proper paid jobs
staff shortages and some services owed a homelessness duty has increased It is beyond doubt that proper (secure,
extracting obscene profits while others almost 40% in less than four years. reliable and fulfilling) paid jobs are linked
struggle because they cannot make the to better lives.
numbers add up. Poverty Through the pandemic, many adults
While these issues are urgent and Research has repeatedly shown that with learning disabilities in paid jobs were
important, they ignore crucial issues about poverty and hardship play a big part in the valued to the extent that they were
money that really matter in the daily lives poorer health of people with learning placed on furlough schemes and returned
of people with learning disabilities. disabilities all through their lives. to their jobs.
Here are five things about money we Twelve years of austerity coupled with The 200 Lives project, however, found
should be talking about. the impact of Covid means that more many people wanted to work and lived
people with learning disabilities and fairly empty lives without a job.
Control over money often their families are likely to be Employers are crying out for reliable,
The recent 200 Lives project, which I led experiencing poverty. committed workers, yet fewer than
at Manchester Metropolitan University 6% of adults with learning disabilities
(see box), evaluated the quality and costs Support to equip people for getting long-term social care are in
of supported living and residential care for any form of paid work, with most of
200 adults with learning disabilities. jobs they want to do (rather that being extremely part time and
It showed that most people had some than just to polish CVs) is cost low paid.
choice over how they spent some of their Better education and support to equip
money, but ultimate control, particularly effective but not happening people for substantial jobs they want to
over big-ticket spending such as rent, do (rather than just to polish their CVs),
usually rested with someone else. without a punitive benefits system
Three out of four did not know if they Then there is the impact of the huge terrifying people is known to be cost
had a personal budget or not, even though and ongoing increase in the cost of food, effective but it isn’t happening.
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) fuel and much else. In the abstract swirl of media debate,
statistics show that three-quarters of The scale of poverty being experienced service providers, councils, trade unions
adults with learning disabilities do have by people with learning disabilities, and think tanks have all been able to have
some form of personal budget. particularly those not eligible for any kind their say about money when it comes to
of social care support, is largely invisible. people with learning disabilities. It’s time
Choice in where to live for people with learning disabilities to
We know that the quality and location of Inadequate, punitive benefits take centre stage. n
housing makes a massive difference to People with learning disabilities are largely
people’s lives, and that housing costs matter absent from general discussions about the
whether someone is renting or buying. adequacy and punitive operation of About 200 Lives
However, little of this reaches the bubble benefits such as universal credit and
of debate when it comes to supporting employment support allowance (ESA). The 200 Lives project examined the
people with learning disabilities.
cost and quality of supported housing
The number of people identified in
Manchester Metropolitan University people had not made active decisions difficulties, learning disabilities or autism learning disabilities.
and residential care for 200 adults with
DWP statistics as having learning
The 200 Lives project found that most
receiving some form of disability benefit is
It was designed to include the
about where they lived. Those in
perspectives of those who did not
rapidly increasing.
supported living were connected to their
have capacity to consent to take part
More than 600,000 people (including
neighbourhoods, whether for good
over 250,000 children) were receiving
in the research to ensure it covered a
(where people felt safe, connected and
mobile) or ill (in isolated areas of antisocial disability living allowance, personal
wide range of support needs.
behaviour, crime and deprivation).
www.cl-initiatives.co.uk independence payment or attendance Community Living Vol 36 No 1 | Autumn 2022 23