Changes to the Independent Living Fund

The Independent Living Fund (ILF) was a central Government financial resource for disabled people, designed to help them live independently in the community.

The Library has produced two papers on this subject of the Independent Living Fund:

• The closure of the Independent Living Fund (ILF) details how the ILF worked, how the Coalition Government came to close it and the unsuccessful legal challenge that the decision faced.
• Local replacements for the Independent Living Fund (ILF) looks at the changes in England following the closure of the ILF. The paper looks at the calculation of the funding pot, and how local authority allocations are determined, as well as the absence of ring-fencing and the fact that local authorities now determine eligibility criteria at the local level (rather than criteria set at the national level by DWP). The paper also looks at a couple of studies that have attempted to understand the impact of the ILF closure: some of these reports are also highlighted below.

This debate pack provides a summary of the ILF and summarises some of the literature considering the impact of its closure.