In April 2019, both our Scotland Recipient Advisory Group and Northern Ireland Stakeholder Group organised to get-together for the first time ever to discuss what ILF Scotland funding means to them and meet with the Minister for Health and Sport, Joe Fitzpatrick to discuss what they thought the next steps for ILF Scotland would be.
The day after their get-together, the groups hosted an event at the Parliament Buildings, Stormont, which over 100 recipients, their families, friends and key decision makers attended.
The event was hugely successful and focused on the amazing stories from disabled people and their representatives who attended. These stories were from both people who receive ILF Scotland funding and also those who don’t. It was clear that the funding makes a huge impact to the lives of our recipients .At the event, Permanent Health Secretary, Richard Pengelly, made a commitment that the Northern Irish Civil Service would undertake the necessary preparatory work around the re-opening of ILF for disabled people in Northern Ireland.
Following his commitment, members of the Centre for Independent Living in Northern Ireland, who had attended the event, agreed to do some research alongside Gauge Impact, to provide evidence to help support the reopening of the fund.
The Centre for Independent Living in Northern Ireland and Gauge Impact have done a huge amount of work on this ‘Northern Ireland Evaluation Report’. The report aims to show how the fund is changing the lives of disabled people and also shows that the fund is cost effective. The report also states that ILF Scotland gives its recipients freedom to choose and control their own lives.
Download the report and our impact card below!
