Lobby of Glasgow City Council
It’s not right that millions of pounds have been taken from the social care budget. There may be an economic crisis but people with learning disabilities did not cause it. Why should we be asked to pay for it?
The Learning Disability Alliance is in favour of more personalised services. So are People First and lots of other organisations. People should have the choice about who supports them. People should have more say over their own lives. People should be the ones in control.
But personalisation in Glasgow has meant people have had less choice, less money and less say.
Less choice because people are restricted on what they can spend their money on.
Less money because the council has reduced most people’s budgets.
Less say because the council has rushed this without proper planning.
Here’s an example about the problems that have occurred. One young woman who needs lots of support is one of the people who lost out in Glasgow. She used to be able to get 2 members of staff to be able to help her walk and exercise without being at risk. A cut in her budget means that she has to spend more time in her wheelchair and if she tries to walk and might hurt herself the council has told her mum to tie her into the wheelchair.
There are lots of other stories about what is wrong in Glasgow.
The best thing that the council could do is to have an independent review of what has happened so far in order to find out what has gone wrong.
But most importantly the council now needs to make sure that no one is put at risk through this personalisation process. Budgets must be fair and people must know how the council arrived at that budget.
Self Directed Support or Personalisation can be really good for people but it shouldn’t be linked to cuts. It’s not too late for Glasgow Council to sort this problem before it gets any worse.