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	TX: 28.04.05 - Child Disability Grants PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON

	Downloaded from www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 THE ATTACHED TRANSCRIPT WAS TYPED FROM A RECORDING AND NOT COPIED FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT. BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF MISHEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE 麻豆约拍 CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS COMPLETE ACCURACY. ROBINSON Now imagine if your child couldn't get to the bathroom, the toilet or the bedroom because of a disability and you felt you simply couldn't afford the necessary adaptations to your home. Well this has been the situation for hundreds of parents of disabled children who were means tested to qualify for what are called disabled facilities grants - we've reported on their predicament on You and Yours in the past. Well now the Welsh Assembly has just voted to abolish means testing, our disability issues reporter Carolyn Atkinson is here with the details. Carolyn. ATKINSON Well this has been a very long running campaign on behalf of disabled children because it was felt that it's unfair to assess their parents income for adaptations which are required by the child. Now the disabled facilities grant is worth up to a maximum of 拢25,000 and families applying for a disabled facilities grant for their child have always had to pass a means test. The complaint has always been that while income is assessed expenditure is not, so for example mortgage repayments were not taken into account. Therefore, it's not uncommon for families to be assessed as being able to contribute say 拢15,000 of the 拢25,000 and that could very often be half a family's annual income, clearly very difficult to achieve. In fact 30% of families who've been going through this means testing are unable to meet their part of the bill so the adaptation doesn't happen and the disabled child is left struggling. Now campaigners would also claim that working families are being heavily penalised and that the system doesn't even work very well for the very poorest families. Well Jo Williams is the chief executive of Mencap, which in turn is part of a coalition of charities which have been pushing for this change. WILLIAMS This is really good news, it will help a huge number of families, families who are really struggling to give their children opportunities to have dignity in being bathed, some families are struggling to carry their children upstairs to the bathroom. So it's really good news, it will change people's lives. ATKINSON What sort of examples have you come across during your campaigning of the sorts of situations people are having to live in because they can't afford to do adaptations? WILLIAMS Well a family where they have a boy who has profound learning disabilities and autism, for them this will enable them to have a bathroom which he can use without them having to struggle up the stairs with him, he'll have some privacy and the rest of the family can have an ordinary family life as a consequence of this change. So it's a really good investment. ATKINSON Now you talk about a good investment but it's costing somebody a lot of money, how much will this cost? WILLIAMS We think that these changes in Wales will cost between 拢2 and 3 million, the government suggests that if we extended it to England, which we want them to do, it could be up to 拢20 million. But in the scale of things that's very small, it makes a huge impact on people's lives and enables families to have that caring role long term. 听础罢碍滨狈厂翱狈 But is it really right that somebody who's been assessed as being able to pay and contribute towards the bill for the adaptation is actually now going to get that paid for free if you like? WILLIAMS With the means testing it really has penalised those families probably on low incomes and middle incomes where their outgoings - their mortgage costs - aren't taken into account and as a consequence they are having to take out huge loans, additional mortgage repayments, possibly bank loans to enable them to have just an ordinary life. And for some to enable them to have the adaptation they've been making choices about whether they should continue to work because if they're not working they may have been able to get a grant to enable the adaptation to take place. So this is a very positive move all round, it's absolutely - will transform lives, I can't tell you how much it will be welcomed. ATKINSON Jo Williams from Mencap. So the situation now is that Wales and Northern Ireland have both abolished means testing for families with disabled children. Scotland does not have disabled facilities grants as such but instead has a system of housing improvement grants. Eligibility there is decided by each local authority, there is no means testing and if experts agree that an adaptation is necessary then there's no cap on the grant and at least half the cost of the work there will be funded. Now campaigners in England are very much hoping that the government will follow the lead already taken by Northern Ireland and from the autumn in Wales but of course no final decision on that can be made until the election is over. ROBINSON Carolyn Atkinson, thank you. 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