Northern Rights

A handful of user-led organisations have been given government money to secure their future. John Pring talked to two of them

For at least two years, Disability Now has been reporting on the funding crisis facing centres for independent living (CILs).

Although the government has set a long-term target of a CIL in every local authority, many existing user-led groups have been facing deeply uncertain futures, saying their work is undervalued and their services under threat.

So when the government announced last year that it was spending £750,000 on supporting 12 user-led organisations to develop their long-term futures, it seemed like positive news, particularly when it was followed by the announcement of another £900,000 this June.

One of the 12 user-led groups to win funding from the initial £750,000 pot was the well-established user-led organisation Choices and Rights Disability Coalition, in Hull. Choices and Rights had submitted a joint bid with Independus, which was formed from two small user-led groups in Richmondshire and Hambleton, north Yorkshire. They were given £100,000.

The aim was for Choices and Rights to mentor Independus as it moved from being a small group of disabled people who held social meetings and dealt mainly with access issues, to a more professional set-up, with a written constitution and paid members of staff.

The two groups have now been working together since April.

Choices and Rights chair Mark Baggley says he and his colleagues have been acting as mentors, encouraging Independus, rather than dictating how it should do things. “They needed some support and guidance. It’s been about us saying, ‘This is what we did; this is where we went wrong.’”

Independus has already acquired office space in a leisure centre, bought office equipment and convinced a local pub to improve access so members could hold meetings there.

Baggley says it is “absolutely crucial” to develop organisations like Independus, so they can provide information, and offer disabled people jobs. “Any user-led organisation can do that, and be a voice for disabled people. If we can help educate organisations as they either form or strengthen, and that can be repeated across the country, that can be a vital tool.”

Independus chair Robert Langford says many of the issues they will focus on in what is a large, rural, sparsely-populated area, will be around isolation and public transport, and the inaccessibility of Victorian buildings. Awareness-raising will also be key, as will providing support to those on direct payments.

“I hope we can make them aware of what their rights and entitlements to services are,” he says, “and support them in obtaining those services.”

He says the money has meant a cultural change for his fellow members.

“It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride,” he says. “There was an awful lot to do and there still is.”