We have split our Independent Living Fund Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) into five sections so you can find the answers to your questions quickly and easily.
Click on any of the below headings to be taken to questions on that subject.
The Independent Living Fund re-opened in Scotland in April 2024.
At this time, only the Scottish Government have committed to re-opening the Independent Living Fund in Scotland.
ILF is open for applications from disabled people who:
No. The £800 must be the amount of funding you receive through Self-Directed Support / social care support package from your local authority. Benefits, including housing benefit, are not included as part of that figure.
Local authority Social Work staff will apply to the Fund on behalf of disabled people.
As applicants must already have social care support in place to be eligible to apply, all potential applicants will be known to their local social work department. Each local authority will have its own approach to identifying and prioritising potential applicants.
ILF Scotland will assess all applications received from social work to confirm that they meet the access principles of the fund. We will then visit potential recipients to complete the application process and to determine whether or not ILF Scotland can offer funding.
We hope to develop alternative application routes, including receiving applications directly from disabled people, but this will take time.
The amount of ILF funding is based on the funding amount agreed by the Local Authority and in place at the time of application. We expect the Local Authority to retain this level of funding. If the LA intends to reduce this, while maintaining the at least the £800 per week minimum threshold for ILF, they should contact ILF Scotland to discuss and if all parties agree, the funding reduction would be shared.
It was not possible to develop this option without delaying the re-opening of the fund, which we are keen to do as soon as possible so that more disabled people can receive ILF support from April. However, this is something we and the Co-Production Working Group are committed to. We hope to work with disabled people and their representatives over the coming year with the aim of facilitating direct applications.
There is no deadline for applying. Applications can be submitted at any time, as we expect the fund to remain open in future years.
When we talked to disabled people and other people interested in the fund, we heard concerns that the available funding would not be fairly distributed across all parts of Scotland. It was therefore decided to allocate a certain number of places to each local authority to promote geographical fairness and on the disabled population and the level of deprivation in each area. This approach will be kept under review.
Applications will be open to people aged 16 and over with no upper age limit.
We aim to process applications as quickly as possible. However, please note that the processing time will depend on a number of factors including the volume of applications we receive. We will provide further information on processing times as soon as we can.
The maximum that can be awarded from the fund is £330 per week (£17,160 annually). It is hoped that this figure will provide a balance between enabling as many disabled people as possible to access the fund, whilst ensuring a meaningful independent living impact for each fund recipient.
ILF Scotland Assessors will talk to potential recipients about how the award is managed. If fund recipients need support to manage their award, then we can help to put appropriate arrangements in place.
The fund is intended to support disabled people to achieve independent living outcomes that are important to them. Whilst we aim to offer as much flexibility as possible in terms of use of funds, certain parameters do apply.
We will not normally fund support / services that are the responsibility of another provider / source such as:
Please see Policy 41 - Use of ILF Scotland Funding for more information.
The Co-Production Working Group was set up to help determine the policies by which the re-opened fund will operate. It is made up of disabled people, representatives from Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs), voluntary sector organisations, COSLA and others. The group have kindly agreed to continue meeting after the fund has re-opened to work towards the developments outlined above.
It is made up of:
No, the re-opened fund is for new applicants only.
We have two funds – the Independent Living Fund and the Transition Fund. The Transition Fund is aimed at young disabled people, living in Scotland and aged 16 to 25 to help them to become more involved in their community. This Fund opened in December 2017 and allows one-off grants of up to £4,000. Please see our Transition Fund page for more details and to apply.
Scotland
In Scotland, the Scottish Government has set a minimum hourly wage rate of £13.45 for Social Care Staff from 1st April 2026. ILF Scotland automatically updates the amount of your award any time that rate changes to ensure you can pay the Social Care Wage rate as a minimum. This includes any hours worked including overnight hours. See our Employer Support Information Note for more information.
Northern Ireland
The Northern Ireland Department of Health has asked us to provide ILF recipients who employ Personal Assistants with an award increase to enable them to pay an hourly rate of at least £12.71 per hour from 1 April 2026. This will not necessarily cover night hours.
Please note that this increase applies only to directly employed Personal Assistants and not to those who are self-employed.
Find out more information in our Employer Support Information Note.
ILF Scotland, as part of its commitment to support recipients who employ Personal Assistants, to be good employers, will consider requests to increase awards to cover statutory employment costs. You can find more information on what we can provide in our Employer Support Information Note.
Yes, we can do this. Please contact us on 0300 200 2022 to discuss or email us at enquiries@ILF.scot
Please read our Employer Support Information Note to find out what other, essential, employer costs we may cover. This includes: Employer Liability Insurance, Financial Management and Payroll Services, Statutory training for Personal Assistants e.g. Health & Safety, Redundancy Payments and Pay in Lieu of Notice, and in some cases, Employer National Insurance Contributions. Please note that in some circumstances, we can only make these additions to your award if it remains within the relevant maximum award so you should call us to discuss.
We will not apply blanket uplifts for providers for increases to these rates, but we can increase rates on an individual basis. Your provider should notify you of any increase in hourly rates to allow them to meet the Social Care Wage / National Minimum Wage rate in writing. Award Managers should keep these letters and discuss them as part of their routine ILF Scotland Review Visit.
Alternatively, Award Managers can, at any time, ask ILF Scotland to apply an uplift to their rate by providing us with a copy of the increase letter. In considering any increase, we will compare this to the Local Authority / Trust ‘Framework Rate’ for care providers and we will normally backdate any increase for up to four weeks.
If you have any further questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact your Specialist Caseworker by phoning 0300 200 2022 or by emailing enquiries@ILF.scot
If you go into hospital or residential care, you or your award manager must inform us of this as soon as is reasonably practicable. If your stay exceeds 28 days, then we may need to suspend your award until you return home and we can then reinstate it. If you need continued ILF Scotland funded support while you are in hospital, please call us to discuss.
If you change care provider, please let us know, particularly if the new provider’s rates will mean that we need to consider an increase to your award. Make sure any provider you contract with is registered with the Care Inspectorate. ILF Scotland cannot pay for any care provided by an agency that is not registered. You must keep a record of the invoices care providers send you.
If any of your personal information changes, such as your address or telephone number, then please let our Specialist Caseworker team know by phoning 0300 200 2022 or emailing enquiries@ilf.scot.
If your bank details have changed then you will need to contact us to ask for a ‘Change of Bank Details’ form. When you receive this form, please fill it in straightaway and return it to our Specialist Caseworker team who will process it immediately.
Please see Your Responsibilities Guide for more information on how you can use your award.
Yes, you must keep certain records for a period of two years. Please read Your Responsibilities Guide for more information on what records you need to keep.
Yes. You can use a financial management company or a payroll agency to assist you with the management of financial paperwork for your award. ILF Scotland will consider paying a reasonable contribution towards the cost of this. Please read our Employer Support Information Note for more information and contact our Specialist Caseworker team if you have any further questions.
Yes, you can ask someone else to manage your award. This is likely to be someone who has Guardianship or Power of Attorney or is a Benefit Appointee or it might be a family member / close friend or in some cases, another third party. If you feel that you are no longer able to manage your own award and you would like someone else to manage your award on your behalf, please talk to us about this. Please refer to the Your Responsibilities Guide for more information.
ILF Scotland promotes the right of disabled people to be as independent as possible in their decision making . It is explicit in Policy 26, ‘Managing An Award’, that we assume that a disabled person has capacity. Where a form of substitute decision making is necessary, ILF Scotland expects that the choices and wishes of the disabled person are fully taken into account and every effort and aid to communication has been used to find out and act upon the disabled person’s wishes.
ILF Scotland recommends that fund recipients consider creating an Anticipatory Care Plan when they have the capacity to plan for foreseeable future care needs. For more information please see The Scottish Government Anticipatory Care Planning: Frequently Asked Questions.
Scotland
ILF Scotland recipients are advised that having a Power Of Attorney in place is considered good practice in Scotland if it is foreseeable that their capacity to make welfare and or financial decisions may decline. A Power of Attorney does not necessarily start when granted to the attorney, it can start when the disabled person is assessed as lacking capacity (as defined by the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000). For further information on Power of Attorney please see The Office of the Public Guardian. While ILF Scotland staff can provide some information to recipients and their carers if they have any enquiries regarding Power of Attorney, they cannot offer advice on which options to choose. Therefore, please obtain legal advice from a solicitor.
Northern Ireland
For fund recipients and carers considering granting an Enduring Power of Attorney in Northern Ireland, please see NI Direct: Managing Your Affairs and Enduring Power of Attorney and NI Department of Justice: Courts and Tribunals for further information and contact details.
Your Local Authority / Trust has a statutory responsibility to support you if you need personal care. In some circumstances, we may be able to increase your ILF Scotland award to assist. Please refer to our Policy 18 on our website for further information.
Please contact our Specialist Caseworker team if you need any assistance regarding this.
The Carer Component was introduced on 27 January 2025.
The Co-Production Working Group considered feedback that disabled people who have significant support needs that are met through unpaid care within the home, are at a disadvantage in accessing the ILF. This is because of the level of unpaid care they receive means that they do not meet the Threshold Sum of £800 to access ILF.
For this reason, it was decided that ILF Scotland could, in these circumstances, and where there is unmet need, introduce a notional Carer Component to meet the minimum Threshold Sum of £800. This will affect disabled people who receive significant unpaid care from someone who resides in the same home, and who would meet the £800 Threshold Sum required to access ILF if unpaid support were not in place.
By way of illustration, where a local authority funds an applicant at £700 per week, and the applicant lives with an unpaid carer who is eligible for a Carer Support Plan, and who provides a significant amount of unpaid care, then ILF Scotland will apply a notional threshold sum of £100, thereby meeting the application threshold of £800.
The Carer Component is a notional amount applied by ILF Scotland, of up to £315 weekly in recognition of significant resident unpaid care, to effectively bring the budget up to the £800 Threshold Sum. See the above illustration.
It is for local authority staff initially to determine that an applicant is receiving significant care and support from an unpaid carer. Social Work colleagues may prioritise applications where the current level of unpaid care provided is crucial to the sustainability of the overall support package, the extent of the unpaid care is having a critical impact on the carer, and there is a risk of family breakdown or residential care due to carer stress. The unpaid care requires a significance that would attract a budget replacement that would at least equate to £800 SDS budget.
When someone lives in the same house as the applicant, provides significant levels of unpaid care, and would be eligible for a Carer Support Plan. You can find out more about Carer Support Plans from Carers Scotland.
No – the recipient just needs to be eligible to receive one from their local council.
Anyone who receives £800 or more of an SDS budget already meets the threshold to receive ILF funding so they don’t need to have the carer component applied. Therefore, you do not need to tick the Carer Component box when submitting an application.
ILF Scotland would continue to pay the award on a temporary basis until the local authority carries out a revised needs assessment and where that results in a net SDS budget of £800 or more, the award would be maintained.
In this case their Carer Component will no longer apply. They will only continue to meet the access requirements for ILF if their net SDS budget remains above £800.
No – we will temporarily maintain the ILF award for a period that we think is reasonable to allow the local authority to re-assess the person’s needs. Where that assessment results in a revised budget of £800 or above we will continue the ILF award indefinitely. If the revised budget is below £800 the ILF award will stop.
No - the effect of an ILF Carer Component is only to change the way ILF calculates the Threshold Sum for accessing ILF. The aim is to extend access to those disabled people who do not currently meet the £800 Threshold Sum, but they would do, were it not for the level of unpaid care from someone living with them that they rely on.
No payment is made to an applicant or unpaid carer. The Carer Component is a notional sum applied by ILF Scotland to allow the Threshold Sum of £800 for ILF to be met. There is no other impact of the carer component on the status, benefits, or treatment of unpaid carers.
