First Minister, Humza Yousaf MSP, announced in his first Programme for Government last week that ILF will be re-opened in April next year with an initial year one investment of up to £9 million.
Commenting on the news, Chair of the ILF Scotland Advisory Group, Dr Jim Elder-Woodward OBE said, “On behalf of the ILF Scotland Advisory Group, I warmly welcome the announcement by the First Minister that the Independent Living Fund is to be reopened in 2024. This was recommended by the Independent Review of Adult Social Care in 2020. The re-opening has also been a long-standing commitment of the Government.
“This announcement would not have been possible without the continuous campaigning, over many years, of disabled people and their directly accountable organisations. Without their persistence, the Advisory Group feared that the Fund would have been left to wither on the vine through attrition.
“However, the initial reopening allocation of £9m will allow ILF Scotland to support up to 1000 more people in the first year. This will take it nearly back to the number it was supporting in 2015, when it first transferred to Scotland, and will provide a good foundation for future growth of the Fund.
“We few, we so lucky few who benefit so greatly from ILF, have much to thank our Independent Living Movement for. Together with that Movement, the ILF Scotland Advisory Group will continue our work to ensure disabled people receive maximum benefit from the Fund. We look forward to working with our colleagues in ILF Scotland, and across the Independent Living Movement, on the co-production of a reopened national Fund which supports more and more disabled people to live independently.”
At ILF Scotland we are excited about the opportunity to work with disabled people, their organisations, and other key stakeholders on the co-production of the re-opened Fund. We will provide more details on this process in the coming weeks.
