Search

Disabled people in Bristol could be forced to live in care homes if it is cheaper than providing support for them in their own homes.

Bristol City Council's proposed Fair and Affordable Care Policy says disabled people whose in-home care exceeds the local authority rates could be placed in nursing or residential homes under a new scheme.

The policy is currently out for public consultation until 31 January 2024.

Bristol City Council has stressed that should changes come into effect, discussions will be had with the disabled person they impact, before decisions are made.

However, the proposal has been fiercely challenged by disability equality organisations including Bristol Reclaiming Independent Living (BRIL).

Mark Williams, from BRIL, said he was 'stunned' when he first saw the draft policy.

He told ITV West Country: "At the moment the main people that we're really worried about are autistic people and people with severe learning difficulties because they are more likely to have high support needs and so risk having their support cut and being moved to care homes.

"It is very worrying if Bristol is bringing the policy that other councils would do the same."

BRIL is holding an open online meeting about the threat the new policy poses to independent living on 5 January.

The policy also received significant backlash from Disability Rights UK when it was first discussed in April 2023.

The charity said: "[We] believe that the policy fails to uphold the rights of disabled people in Bristol to receive the care and support they need based on personal preference. And the right to live independently at home with choice and control over care and support.

"The draft policy, as stated, is incompatible with the rights we are granted under the Care Act 2014."

A spokesperson for Bristol City Council said the proposed policy was co-developed with the Bristol City Council Adult Social Care Equalities Forum and the policy stresses that all decisions will be made in collaboration with the disabled person they impact.

---

The consultation: https://www.ask.bristol.gov.uk/fair-and-affordable-care-policy-consultation

Listen

A disabled man who swallowed poison in a jobcentre in an attempt to take his own life, after becoming “overwhelmed” by the harmful actions of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), has pleaded guilty to possessing a chemical weapon.

David Rollins had emailed Disability News Service (DNS) earlier that day – 23 June – to say he intended to take his own life, and that he wanted to draw attention to the harm caused by DWP and its assessment providers Maximus and Capita.

He had been waiting for a decision on his personal independence payment (PIP) claim and had also just been told he needed to have a work capability assessment (WCA), and he feared losing both PIP and part of his universal credit.

He has spent the last six months on remand in prison, after recovering from the suicide attempt, but he has now been released on bail before he is sentenced next month.

He had already pleaded guilty to intentionally or recklessly causing a public nuisance, but on Monday, at Leicester Crown Court, he also pleaded guilty to possessing a chemical weapon.

A further charge of developing or producing a chemical weapon will lie on the court’s files.

Rollins, from Orchardson Avenue, Leicester, had told DNS in the 23 June email: “I already know from the experiences of my friends where this is going, and I will not starve to death.”

He added: “The DWP and Capita and Maximus will deny any association with my suicide so this letter is one of the ways I intend to make it clear to them and the public.

“Without the encroaching sense of impending dread caused by the prospect of losing half of an already stretched income I would not be doing this.

“Without a pip and esa assessment either or both of which will destroy the life I have struggled to build I would not be doing this.”

DNS editor John Pring had emailed a response, asking Rollins not to take his own life, and directing him to organisations that could offer support.

Pring then contacted Leicestershire police to ask for an officer to check on his welfare, but by the time they arrived at his flat, Rollins had arrived at Leicester’s Wellington Street jobcentre (pictured), where he took the poison.

He emailed from a hospital bed that evening to say he had taken this action because of the stress of waiting for both his PIP decision and a WCA.

He said he had informed DWP’s universal credit department that he was at high risk of suicide and so should not be put through a WCA – which has been associated with countless suicides since its introduction in 2008 – but “they sent a robot reply and the form anyway”.

He added: “I’m exhausted being a drop in the huge ocean of claimants unfairly refused disability benefits.”

He has told DNS that he was becoming “overwhelmed by the dwp”.

After taking advice, DNS decided not to publish a news story in June\*, because of the risk that other disabled people experiencing mental distress caused by DWP would take similar action in the hope of DNS writing about their suicide note after their death.

In his email, Rollins had described his own work over the last 10 years supporting other disabled people with their benefit claims.

He said he had seen an increasing number of benefit appeals reach the tribunal stage over those 10 years that “clearly should not have done so”, mostly because Capita and Maximus assessors had “lied and misled” DWP, while he said DWP’s PIP, employment and support allowance and universal credit departments had “acted openly in tacit agreement, underscoring and zero-ing claimants”.

He said he was tired of seeing friends “forced to survive on almost nothing while they wait even longer than ever for successful Tribunal results”, with a backlog, he said, that meant they would wait a year for their appeal to be heard.

He said one disabled person with cerebral palsy he was supporting had just received a mandatory reconsideration notice from DWP that confirmed his previous PIP award for enhanced daily living and mobility had been removed completely, even though it had previously been awarded by a tribunal.

Rollins said: “I had to tell him we would win at tribunal in a year’s time again.”

He added: “Most of my claimants and friends have fibromyalgia and poor mental health like myself, we all have the same dread of DWP letters, we know that the DWP will dismiss our overwhelming symptoms and multiple diagnosis with a zero across the board outcome.

“This is a drop in the ocean. I am a drop in the ocean.”

DWP declined to comment.

Leicestershire police also declined to comment.

\*DNS will not report on suicide notes emailed to the editor by claimants aiming to highlight the harm caused by DWP. This is because of the risk that running such reports could encourage other people in mental distress to take similar action

A note from the editor: Please consider making a voluntary financial contribution to support the work of DNS and allow it to continue producing independent, carefully-researched news stories that focus on the lives and rights of disabled people and their user-led organisations. Please do not contribute if you cannot afford to do so, and please note that DNS is not a charity. It is run and owned by disabled journalist John Pring and has been from its launch in April 2009. Thank you for anything you can do to support the work of DNS… Donate

The DWP have published the results of a survey on the public’s attitudes to a worrying list of new powers it is considering acquiring, allegedly in order to combat fraud, error and debt in the benefits system.

The proposed new powers include:

• Trained DWP investigators having arrest powers
• Trained DWP investigators having search and seizure powers
• Collecting information about where claimants are spending money
• Collecting banking information as soon as fraud is suspected, rather than waiting for a criminal investigation
• Asking banks to share information about accounts which look like someone may be committing fraud
• Government organisations sharing data with DWP about claimants

The DWP research claims to show that a majority of the public were in favour of every one of these measures being introduced.

Even amongst a group of claimants, the DWP claim, more people considered the powers acceptable than found them unacceptable, with the exception of collecting information about where claimants are spending money.

Given the levels of incompetence, data loss and unaccountability at the DWP, the possibility that staff could arrest claimants and seize their possessions is likely to alarm many readers.

Equally, the idea that the DWP could begin examining bank accounts and looking at how a claimant is spending their money merely because the they suspect fraud is a cause for real concern.

With the department increasingly relying on AI and algorithms they don’t fully understand to detect fraud, the possibility of claimants being wrongfully arrested and facing long and poorly resourced investigations seems real.

No legislation has yet been put forward by the DWP and many will hope that a general election intervenes and that these proposals never become anything more than the wish list of a failing department.

You can read the full details of the DWP consultation on possible new powers here.