Social care -- Scrap Care Charges

We are in the England/Wales campaign to scrap homecare charges by Councils, taken from our disability benefits.

On funding social care, WV sent evidence and our key demands to Jeremy Hunt’s Health and Social Care committee inquiry last year.  We oppose more taxation of low-income people including via National Insurance (the government is pitting older and younger people against each other) or Council Tax; private insurance; “professionalisation” and “robot” care. 

The so-called “lifetime cap” on care charges in residential homes is a con – weekly “hotel” costs are not counted, only the proportion for hands-on care. Support services of our choice should be free like the NHS, funded from taxation of companies and wealthy individuals and by transferring military spending. Trident nuclear submarines cost £205 billion to renew (CND). Why not scrap Trident and use the money towards disabled people’s independent living and a Care Income for people and planet to revalue care work of all kinds -- including environmental work against climate change -- and remove its patronising associations. The Care Income is explained more in Selma James’ new book, Our Time Is Now – Sex, Race, Class and Caring for People and Planet

Disabled Mothers’ Rights campaign

Child and adult social care policy and spending must change from punitive “child protection” to supporting disabled mothers and our children, keeping families together.

Read our joint submission with Support Not Separation to the Independent review of child social care. 

Universal Credit #KeepTheLifeline

A mother from the All African Women’s Group is testifying with others on Wednesday 8 September 2021 morning to the Work and Pensions Committee (watch it online on Parliament website).  Women and children, single mother families, sick and disabled people of all genders under "limited capability for work", will be hardest hit by the cut.  We are glad that Marcus Rashford is pressing the government to keep the £20. And together with other disability organisations, we are opposing benefit cuts implied in the Government’s Work, Health and Disability Green Paper; and continuing to press for abolition of No Recourse to Public Funds which denies asylum seeking and immigrant people, including traumatised and disabled women and children, access to mainstream benefits.