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Disabled 'treated like animals' by council care cuts
Peter Dominiczak9 Sep 2009
A disabled campaigner today criticised a London Tory council that cancelled free home care, accusing it of treating vulnerable residents "like animals".
Dulce Sobral, 49, made the comments after a judge said free home care for disabled people in the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham was "sacrificed on the altar" of the council's determination to push through a three per cent cut in council tax bills.
Lord Justice Sedley said he had "very considerable misgivings" about the way in which the council began charging for home care, despite a manifesto pledge to keep it free.
Ms Sobral needs weekly home care because of debilitating illnesses that leave her housebound for months at a time.
Along with two other disabled campaigners - wheelchair user Deborah Domb and Moses Bushiwa, who is blind - she fought a long and difficult court battle to keep the service free.
But despite the judge's comments in London's Civil Appeal Court yesterday, the court refused to find the council guilty of disability, race or gender discrimination.
Ms Sobral, who is originally from Portugal and worked as a teacher before her illness, said: "I'm sure that vulnerable, elderly people will die because of this move. We are being treated like animals.
"I'm so shocked by what the council has done. I'm afraid of the future as I cannot afford to pay for my home care. In this borough, if you are poor and sick you are nobody."
The Conservatives' election campaign in 2006 was fought on a promise that no charges would be levied for home care services.
But increasing financial pressure on the council - in part caused by the three per cent council tax cut - led it to introduce the charges.
The campaigners' lawyers argued the charges not only amounted to disability discrimination, but also racial and gender discrimination as the charges apply more to women and members of ethnic minorities.
Ms Sobral added: "I wish I could work and afford my own care but my illness prevents me from working.
"I wish I could be free but I'm a prisoner in my own home because of this illness. The council should at least let me have some dignity if I can't lead a normal life."
Dismissing the appeal, Lord Justice Rix, sitting with Lord Justice Sedley and the Master of the Rolls, Lord Clarke, said there had been a full consultation exercise before the charges were introduced.
He said the council had a duty to balance its budget and rejected claims that the charges were "unreasonable or perverse".
A council spokesman said: "We are pleased at this further vindication of the processes we went through in making the decision to charge.
"Asking some people to make a contribution towards the cost of care services is a prospect that the council had hoped to avoid."
He added: "The fact remains that we will be charging less than the vast majority of our London counterparts and we expect that up to two thirds of home care service users will not have to pay at all."
Reader views (6)
Melvyn Windebank - think you need to get your facts straight. The fortnightly council newspaper is fully funded by the advertising its sells and so is not a drain on tax payers at all. It is also highly rated by many residents.
- Andrew, London, 10/09/2009 19:12
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If I remember the story from a previous article correctly, these cuts were forced on the council by central government...
- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark, 10/09/2009 05:14
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This council still wastes money on a newspaper that is now published fortnightly but it is a blatent TORY paper at council taxpayers expense.
This demonstrates what would happen if Cameron got into Downing Street afterall it was the Tories who broke the earnings link with pensions and no doubt with negative inflation a cut in pensions could be the order of a Cameroon government.
Anyway as Thatcher said "There is no such thing as society" so whats surpriseing about a Tory council denying elderly or disabled proper care.
As to Mark, London this council has CUT its tax and so has made a political decision leading to unnessary cuts if this is what people want then politicians need to make this clear BEFORE an election and say what they would cut.
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 09/09/2009 19:55
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If the Government has billions to go to War in Afganastan then it has enough to ensure the elderly, sick and disabled are well cared for and have a better standard of provision than they currently get now. It is not a matter of affordability it is a matter of 'Will'.
The Government are currently mooting a Green Paper where provision for the Sick and Disabled will be paid for and administered by the local Councils...this Case just highlights what will happen in the future... their very lives will become balanced on the financial whims and politiacal objectives of the local Council.
Maybe if they took their example from the recently elected Mayor of Doncaster they would learn how and where saving can be made and how Care for the Sick paid for.
- Clif, London, 09/09/2009 19:42
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Find out how many executives, managers, consultants and other parasites the council employs on six-figure salaries and gold-plated pensions.
Ask yourself whether any of these stuffed suits are worth five or more times as much as a person providing home care to the elderly.
Ask yourself whether anyone would even notice if most of these fat cats were to disappear off the face of the earth. My guess is that things would actually run better within the week, and that's before the wages were re-spent hiring people who do something useful for the community, or were returned as a council tax cut.
Come the revolution ....
- Nigel, London, 09/09/2009 18:47
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Unfortunately councils can only provide the services they can afford. Nobody is willing to pay unlimited amounts of tax. Maybe we should have a referendum on what services councils should provide free with choices limited to say 10 services. There are hundreds of things I'd like to see axed and hundreds more where more clarity is needed as to whether they are funded through council or income taxs. As for this being discrimination Ms.Sobral, a Portugese national, has now guaranteed there is even less money for disabled services by inflicting the cost of this case on her local authority.
- Mark, London, 09/09/2009 11:43
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