Chamber and committees

Scottish Government have directly engaged three assessors to carry out assessments as part of the pilot programme. In addition we understand several developers have engaged assessors where they have taken on developer led SBAs as part of the pilot. The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of assessor appointed by developers.

We are working collaboratively with Homes for Scotland and developers. Nine of the largest UK and Scottish developers have committed in principle to identify, assess and remediate buildings that they have played a role in developing. We have agreed the principle of developer led Single Building Assessments (SBAs) and will continue working collaboratively with developers to take forward assessment and remediation in line with the SBA specification that will be finalised at the end of May.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-safer-buildings-accord-developer-commitment-letter/pages/list-of-developers/

It is right that developers make a contribution to remediating buildings that they developed, where they are able to do so, and we recognise that this contribution should be proportionate to profit. In England and Wales developers over £10m profit threshold have committed to meet all of the costs of remediating their buildings. In Wales developers under the £10m profit threshold will make a level of contribution to remediating their buildings reflecting their ability to pay. We are currently working with the sector in Scotland to explore the level of contribution that would be appropriate for developers.

We are working through our financial support options at pace to define how we can support those developers who cannot afford to pay in full for their remediation liability. We are committed to ensuring that our approach is proportionate to a developer’s ability to pay and are working with developers now to define the level of contribution that would be appropriate.

Based on £9 million of funding available in 2024-25, Scottish Government and ILF Scotland worked together to develop indicative options based on varying threshold sums and maximum award levels for consideration by the Co-Production Working Group. The group provided recommendations to Ministers on reopening the fund, which were accepted. The recommendations report is available at: https://ilf.scot/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Recommendations-for-Scottish-Ministers-v01.0.pdf

The group recommend that the Fund should re-open using a ‘threshold sum’ as a key access principle. The threshold sum is the value of the local authority / Self Directed Support care package and has been used by ILF since 1993 as a proxy for level of need. Following deliberations on the group on the number of people that may be eligible at different threshold levels, the group recommend that the Fund should open with a threshold sum of £800.

The group considered that 10 hours of additional independent living focused support and assistance was meaningful in relation to the realisation of Article 19 of the UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities (UNCRPD) and would enable a typical award to contribute to making a meaningful difference. Using the current ILF average hourly rates awarded of £22 per hour, taking 10 hours as the average, and 15 hours as the maximum, this equates to a maximum award of £330 per week.

To ensure that the Fund is affordable within the £9m allocation committed to by Ministers in the first year, each local authority area was allocated a share of 1,000 places in the Fund, with places allocated proportionately based on the size of the population and the percentage of disabled people in that area. The places allocated to each local authority is available on the ILF Scotland website: https://ilf.scot/re-opening-ilf/re-opening-frequently-asked-questions/#allocation

We have committed £9m in 2024-25 to offer up to 1,000 new applicants access to the Independent Living Fund. This initial funding takes into consideration that applications will be received and assessed over the course of the year, so that new awards will phase in as the year progresses. Funding for 2025-26, and the number of further people who will be able to access the Fund, will be agreed through the annual budget process.

Up to 1,000 new applicants will be offered awards in 2024-25. The actual number of applications received will be monitored by ILF Scotland and Scottish Government.

A budget of £9m has been committed to reopening the Independent Living Fund in 2024-25. Funding for 2025-26 will be agreed through the annual budget process.

The principles that will govern access to the reopened Independent Living Fund, recommended by the Co-Production Working Group, are set out on the Independent Living Fund Scotland website, at https://ilf.scot/news-post/update-re-opening-ilf-in-scotland/

Based on the recommendations of the Co-Production Working Group, the maximum award for new recipients of the Independent Living Fund has been set at £330 per week. Historically awards have tended to be substantially lower than the maximum. However, the Independent Living Fund is now open to new applicants for the first time since 2010, so it is challenging to estimate the average award level. Awards will depend on individual assessments by ILF Scotland Assessors of the award required to achieve the independent living outcomes sought.