On Monday 13th of December, the Minister for Disabled People - Maria Miller MP - issued a statement on the future of the Independent Living Fund (ILF). Towards the end of the last Government the ILF announced that - on a temporary basis - it would no longer take on new applicants citing insufficient funds to cover a growing demand for its support.

In the Minister's statement she announces that this situation will now be made permanent and that ILF will exclusively fund those who are lucky enough to already be in receipt of ILF payments. She states that the Government will safeguard the fund for current recipients for the remainder of this Parliament. However, although this may seem a positive sign, it bodes ominously for the future of the fund as of 2015.

The Government will be consulting on their plans for ILF in early 2011 although no date has yet been given for its release. Needless to say, SIA will vehemently oppose any changes to the ILF that will see SCI and other disabled people considerably worse off in terms of their care and support and their ability to live independently.

You can read the Minister's full statement here.