Coronavirus regulations that strip away support for the disabled are set to be scrapped.
A UK Government review found that those dependent on care had been anxious that their support could be withdrawn.
Under the Emergency Coronavirus Act, councils have been able to step back from their usual duties by using so-called “easements” in the legislation.
Fazilet Hadi of Disability Rights UK campaigned against social care easements
Eight councils in England used the easements at the start of the pandemic. However, they have not used the powers since 29 June 2020.
Health secretary Matt Hancock said the Government was “rightly ending as many national measures as safely as possible”.
In total, 15 measures introduced under the Act will not be renewed.
Others that remain “necessary and proportionate” will continue. These include the furlough scheme and an extension of sick pay.
‘Truly shocking’
Fazilet Hadi is the policy head with charity Disability Rights UK (DR UK).
She said taking away disabled people’s rights through the coronavirus regulations was “truly shocking”.
Hadi said that, along with Liberty and Inclusion London, her charity “campaigned hard” against the easements.
She said removing the easements is a “step forward”. However, she added that many disabled people still face “major battles” for adequate care. Government reforms were “urgently needed”, she said.
Also, Hadi said the Government had not lifted easements on education, health and care (EHC) plans. “This needs to happen,” she said.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Elsewhere, the easements ended for adults in November in Scotland, last month in Wales, and will end this month in Northern Ireland. But all parts of the UK will retain some easements for children.
Last year, Miriam Gwynne, 43, from Hamilton in South Lanarkshire, told how Scotland’s easements had led to a reduction in support for her autistic 11-year-old twins Isaac and Naomi.
Gwynne said she and husband Nigel had been “suffocating from the level of care that we are expected to provide”.
Related:
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- Coronavirus may decimate services
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- Activists demand virus death figures
- Fightback against virus law care cuts
- Disabled launch legal fight to buy food
- Keep seeking medical help, doctor urges
- Families fight virus clampdown
- We can’t get food we need, say parents
- Councils ‘free to abandon disabled’
- Care slashed in Warwickshire and Surrey
Published: 6 April 2021
