Northants closure sparks fears for DPOs

Sunil Peck

The demise of a Northamp­tonshire based user-led organisation is a stark reminder of the threat facing disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) nationwide, campaigners have warned.

The Disabled People’s Alliance Northamptonshire (DPAN) has been promoting disabled people’s rights since 1993, but it’s being forced to close after two other organisations won contracts for work it was previously involved with.

An advocacy contract that had been operated by Advocacy Northamptonshire, a part of the Northamptonshire Alliance, has now been taken over by Advocacy Partners Speaking Up, a national company which is not run by disabled people, while a contract to set up a centre for independent living (CIL) has been won by the user-led Bedfordshire-based Disability Resource Centre.

John Smith, co-ordinator of DPAN, told Disability Now that its demise was particularly worrying because of the recent demise of another user-led organisation, Ability Northamptonshire, which had also been part of the bid to set up the CIL.

He said: “There’s a loss of an independent disabled people’s voice in the county now. It goes against the strategy to improve life chances for disabled people and what the previous and current Governments have said about promoting local user-led groups.

“Here in Northampton­shire there are now fewer user-led organisations than there were three years ago.”

Smith added that the closure of DPAN meant the loss of 16 years of experience in providing an independent voice to support disabled people, supporting people with personal budgets, running courses to develop disabled people’s self-esteem and promoting the rights of people in residential care.

Stephen Lee Hodgkins, Director of Disability Lib, the Big Lottery-funded alliance of organisations that supports DPOs to develop their business skills, said that DPAN’s plight reflected the fact that the situation was worsening for DPOs throughout the country.

He said: “This is contrary to government policy, and shortsighted by the Northamptonshire authorities. While the personalisation agenda creates opportunities for growth in user-led services of disabled people, commissioning often overlooks the added value DPOs bring, as I believe to be the case for DPAN.

“Unfortunately DPOs can’t sit back and think they’re going to be safe as public sector cuts loom. They need to make sure that they have strategies and know who are their competitors and allies.”