Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

DPAC Northampton Protest Against Cuts To The Disabled Facilities Grant

Northants Solidarity | 22.07.2014 22:38 | Public sector cuts

Protest against an 80% cut in Disability Fund
Tuesday 22/07/2014

Chris Kinsey
Chris Kinsey

Norman Adams
Norman Adams


Stephen Miller, Bianca Todd and Justin Brown representing Left Unity
Stephen Miller, Bianca Todd and Justin Brown representing Left Unity


Today Northampton Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) protested outside the Guildhall, Northampton. A group of about 14 disabled and non-disabled people gathered to highlight the fact that Northampton Borough Council (NBC) have made a cut of 80% to the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG). They timed the protest to coincide with a meeting of the Northampton Disabled People’s Forum so that they could hand in a set of questions regarding the cuts.
DFG’s allow disabled people to make much needed alterations to their homes and can include things such as ramps, widened doorways, stairlifts etc and are essential for allowing disabled people to stay in their own homes.
Norman Adams, the organiser of the protest, noticed the reduced spending whilst reviewing the Council’s monthly expenditure. In the first quarter of this year the council spend on DFG’s was £176,629, compared to £989,278 in the same quarter of the previous year. “That’s a difference of 80%,” Mr Adams said. Putting these figures to paper he handed them into the attendees of today’s forum meeting. “We are simply asking that this huge reduction is put on the next meeting’s agenda so that it is discussed and properly considered. Is the drop due to less need for DFG’s, or is it a case of the council raising the bar? Have the entitlement conditions changed? If so, has there been an Equality Impact Assessment of these? At the moment we simply don’t know.”
One of the protesters, Chris Kinsey, feared that NBC were following the example set by neighbouring Cambridgeshire.
“My sister in law had to wait 13 months for a DFG. 13 months! In that time she was unable to use a bath or a shower. Can you imagine what it would be like on a hot day like this not being able to access a basic human right such as having a wash? And then have that going on for 13 months. I’m worried that Northampton is going to go the same way and that they will delay or reduce the amount spent on this vital funding stream”.
Many of the people made impassioned speeches expressing their concerns regarding the cuts, one of whom was Northampton Left Unity’s Bianca Todd, ”Shame on you Northampton Borough Council. Shame on you! In that building they earn good wages and have large expense accounts. We look after animals better than we do people in this country and in this day and age that’s an absolute disgrace. We need to open our eyes. There are elections coming up soon and they (the council) need to realise that votes come at a price.”
Justin Brown, another member of Left Unity, suffered a spinal injury in 2012 and went from being a very active person to someone who now has trouble walking very short distances. He is always in pain and cannot dress himself. He said, “I am really angry that this country can find £1.1bn for spying on their own population and sending drones up in the air and yet they are cutting funds to the disabled that will allow them to maintain their independence.”
It’s clear that the decision to make these cuts is a political choice and not an economical necessity. As Mr Brown points out, the Borough Council is spending £6 million on the de-pedestrianising of Abington Street, which is hugely unpopular. The money is there so there is no excuse for this attack on one of the most vulnerable sections of the community. But this isn’t an isolated event.
During a court case last year the DWP had to admit that the real reason why the Independent Living Fund (a fund that enables disabled people to pay for carers, allowing them to stay in their homes and not end up in an institution) was being transferred from them to local authorities, was that after 2015 the money will no longer be available.
The next meeting of the Disabled People’s Forum is Tuesday, 23rd September at 5.30 pm. Mr Adams hopes that his questions will receive the answers they deserve. If not then this is only the beginning of the fightback.
You can find the full details of this issue on the DPAC East Midlands Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/eastmidlands.dpac?fref=ts

Northants Solidarity

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech