202402 - Northern Ireland Stakeholder Group Minutes - May 2024 (Easy Read)

Who could not come to the meeting?

Frances McHugh

Kieran McCarthy, Vice Chairperson

Niqi Rainey   Bryan Miles

David to book a room for an event at the Northern Ireland Assembly and Harvey to check how ILF Scotland can help.

Linda to ask the Department of Health for an increase to the Independent Living funding to match the new National Minimum Wage, the minimum pay per hour most workers in the UK should be paid by law.

Linda and Lee to arrange for the Northern Ireland and the Scotland Groups to meet together.

Harvey to look at whether the Group could become a Disabled Persons Organisation (DPO).

Linda to look at whether Stakeholder Group members could become a member of IMNI – this stands for the 'Independent Mechanism for Northern Ireland', which helps promote the rights of disabled people.   Lee to check that everyone still wants to be a member of the Group.

David welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Lee said where the fire exits were.

The Group agreed on what the minutes from the last meeting said.

The ILF Scotland Communications Team will add to their website.

There was nothing else from the last meeting the Group needed to talk about..

Caroline said the Joint Event was great and Robert D said it was good to see everyone working together. Amanda enjoyed the trip and the meeting. David thanked ILF Scotland for organising the transport and somewhere to stay. He said that hiring wheelchair accessible transport in Northern Ireland was not as easy as it is in Scotland.  Harvey said that ILF Scotland were unhappy about the ramp for wheelchairs as it was dangerous and the layout of the venue for the event could have been much better.

The Scottish Government appreciated the feedback. Linda will write to Edinburgh City Council about the need for taxis that are easy for wheelchairs to get into.

Harvey said that there might be an event to celebrate the 10th anniversary of ILF. This could happen in July 2025 in Scotland. Linda said it might be an Independent Living Conference.

David suggested a meeting at the Northern Ireland Assembly this December.   

He said he was disappointed that none of the MLAs (Members of the Legislative Assesmbly) who are politicians in Northern Ireland could be at the Scotland event. David thinks that it should be a 2-hour event to talk about the Fund for the MLAs and that our friends and colleagues in Scotland would be welcome to share some of their experiences. Harvey said he would look at how ILF Scotland could help with Davids’s suggestion.

David wrote 2 weeks ago to Minister Robin Swann who is a member of the Northern Ireland Government. He asked him to look at the re-opening of the Independent Living Fund and said he was welcome to attend this meeting. He was not able to be here because of other work. David asked Colin Dunlop from the Department of Health in Northern Ireland to give the letter to the new Minister, Mike Nesbitt. Colin said that the re-opening of the Independent Living Fund is something the new Minister wants to look at but the cost is still an issue for the Department.

Robert told everyone that ILF Scotland still has about 80 visits to do so 2 Assessors are coming to help in August. The Assessors said that recipients are still finding it difficult to employ and  Personal Assistants. A Personal Assistant is paid to help people who need social care support to help them to live as independently as possible.

Some people’s needs do not seem to be met because of less money available from social work. The cost of living is also an issue. David asked Robert to tell the Trusts about the effect that reducing care packages will have on recipients’ mental and physical health. These reductions could mean the ILF funding would stop and that would leave recipients and their families worse off. Colin said he would ask about support for people who have had their trust packages reduced.

The National Minimum Wage (NMW) went up from £10.42 to £11.44. Trusts gave the same increase to Personal Assistant rates and it has changed from £15.37 to £16.88 gross - this includes money for holiday pay, national insurance etc. The Trusts will pay this from 1 April 2024. Linda will ask the Department to agree the same level of increase for ILF recipients in Northern Ireland.

David asked ILF Scotland to work quickly on these actions. Amanda left the meeting at 1.52 pm.

David asked if the Stakeholder Group could be a Disabled People’s Organisation. Linda said that role of the Group is to work with ILF Scotland and not as a Disabled People’s Organisation. Harvey said he did not think this was needed but would ask the ILF legal team and tell the Group what they said.

David said that the IMNI (Independent Monitoring Mechanism for Northern Ireland) was set up by the United Nations to check and report on how the government is taking on board the rights of disabled people.

David said that the Stakeholder Group might want to send someone to attend the forum and feedback at the next Group meeting. They could ask questions about issues relevant to the Independent Living Fund. Linda said she would look at this before the next meeting. Harvey left the meeting 14.46.

Both these items were carried over to the next meeting.

David asked Lee to speak to HM to ask her if she still wishes to be a member and attend meetings.

Caroline, David, Robert and Linda agreed that ILF Scotland should look for some more new members for the Stakeholder Group. The Group talked about who should be in the Group and decided that the Group should be made up mostly by disabled ILF Scotland Recipients. It was agreed that the Northern Ireland Stakeholder Group should not include anyone representing an organisation. This will be talked about at the next meeting with the full Group.

David McDonald was voted in again as the Chairperson of the Group. The Vice Chairperson will be agreed at the next meeting as there was not enough people at the meeting to decide.

Linda thanked everyone for attending the joint meeting held recently. Lee will send out minutes, but the main things the joint Group members though important were:

• Raising awareness of what Independent Living is or means

• Role of Award Manager

• Co-production Working Group for the re-opening of the Independent Living Fund

• Accessibility of ILF information

• ILF Scotland Board work

• Case studies of personal Assistants

David said ILF Scotland could work on ways to promote the role of a Personal Assistant. The Group agreed that employing more people and keeping them should be the priority of the charter work.

Linda and Lee will send out information on the date of the next meeting.

The Stakeholder Group raised the following to be discussed at the future meetings.

• Personal Assistant Training

• Award Management

None

Tuesday 3rd September 2024 11:30 with 12 o’clock start until 3:00.