The Independent Living Fund (ILF) Scotland received five strong expressions of interest from Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) to participate in the small fully funded pilot to test a DPO‑supported application route to the re‑opened Independent Living Fund (ILF) in Scotland.
A huge thank you to those organisations who submitted an expression of interest. However, we have made the decision that the Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living (GCIL) will deliver the pilot, working in collaboration with other partners.
We look forward to working with GCIL to refine the model and increase timely access to the fund for Scotland’s most disabled citizens.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Scott OBE, Chief Executive, ILF Scotland
ILF Scotland is a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) and Company Limited by Guarantee, wholly owned by Scottish Ministers. It was established in 2015 in response to the closure of ILF UK in June 2015 and continued to maintain the existing recipient fund in Scotland and Northern Ireland from July 2015, though it remained closed to new applications.
The Scottish Government agreed to re-open the fund to new applicants in Scotland in April 2024 to support more of Scotland’s most disabled citizens to achieve independent living outcomes. Uptake to date has been good but there are some areas where progress is slower than anticipated, influenced in part by local authority capacity in presenting applications.
The re-opening of the ILF was developed through a process of co-production involving the following organisations:
The Co-Production Working Group, which continues to meet, is co-chaired by ILF Scotland and Scottish Government.
To access the fund, applicants must:
The Co-Production Working Group recognised that there were necessary compromises to secure the early re-opening of the fund. It therefore set development priorities for the first 12 to 18 months post re-opening:
The Group has suggested that in addition to or in place of a citizen led application route, which has technical and implementation challenges, we could develop a route where applications are led by disabled people but supported and submitted by Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) including Centres for Independent Living (CILs).
This option is more readily and technically feasible and could be implemented more quickly than the citizen led option. Advantages of the DPO led application option include the potential to:
The capacity of DPOs to deliver is a significant challenge. Therefore, we suggested a fully funded pilot with one or two DPOs. A DPO is defined as an organisation where at least 51% of the governing body are either disabled people or / and people who are eligible for social care support (Self Directed Support Scotland).
GCIL has been selected to run a pilot scheme to identify appropriate disabled applicants and facilitate the application process on their behalf. The applicant would lead on identifying what additional independent living outcomes were important to them and GCIL will complete and submit the application.
Prior to the pilot starting, a Memorandum of Understanding / Service Level Agreement will be established between GCIL and ILF Scotland. A data sharing agreement will then be set up between the GCIL and ILF Scotland, and GCIL will be given access to the ILF Scotland application portal, currently only available to Local Authority Social Work teams. Systems development work will be required to update the IT infrastructure for this purpose. GCIL will then submit applications via the portal to ILF Scotland who will then verify the access requirements with the local authority. For these applications only, the local authority’s role will change from leading applications, to verifying applications, which should reduce the processing demands on them.
Social Work plays a critical role in existing ILF awards. The majority of recipients have a tripartite agreement in place between the recipient, ILF Scotland and Social Work. The assurances that this arrangement provides will continue to be crucial in a DPO supported application model. These reassurances include:
GCIL will be funded, as part of the pilot, to employ a dedicated Independent Living Support Officer (or equivalent job title) who will take responsibility for identifying suitable applicants and completing their applications via the ILF portal. Training in use of the portal and in ILF policies, along with on-going support as required, will be provided by ILF Scotland. The successful post holder will be required to liaise with local authority social work teams. We would estimate that the Support Officer could complete around 100 applications per year.
The secondment of a current ILF Scotland Assessor to GCIL may be considered.
Although the pilot is focused around identifying those most in need and supporting their applications, there will be an additional benefit in DPOs supporting disabled people at the initial stages of receiving ILF funding, for example, connecting individuals with peer support to be an employer or contractor of a Care Provider. It could also help to foster closer working relationships between DPOs and public sectors organisations, beyond ILF Scotland.
ILF Scotland (ILF) re-opened to new applications in April 2024 to support people with the most complex needs to apply for additional funding to achieve independent living outcomes important to them.
Until now, applications have only been led and submitted by Local Authority (LA) Social Work departments.
A Co‑Production Working Group was established prior to re-opening, to make recommendations on the policy framework for the re-opened fund. The group has recommended a pilot to test a DPO‑supported application route to increase applications and improve the reach to people facing the greatest barriers to independent living in different parts of Scotland.
The pilot will now fund GCIL to employ a dedicated Independent Living Support Officer to identify eligible applicants, complete and submit applications via the ILF portal, and work with Local Authorities to verify key information and safeguards.
The duration of the pilot will be for 12 months starting in April 2026.
Pilot start date:
2 April 2026
For questions about the pilot please contact: Linda Scott, Director of Policy, Improvement and Engagement, ILF Scotland, by email at linda.scott@ilf.scot or by phone on 07910 806 694.
