Disability campaigners reject Hancock's claim Coronavirus Act made social care better not worse

Disability campaigners fear Health Secretary Matt Hancock is using COVID-19 as an excuse to dismantle people’s care packages and have rejected his claim that the Coronavirus Act has improved people’s access to social care.

Disability groups have rejected claims made by the Health Secretary that the Coronavirus Act has made access to social care better.

Mr Hancock confirmed that Schedule 12 of the Coronavirus Act, which allows councils to suspend their assessment, care planning and review duties under the Care Act, will be renewed.

Mr Hancock told MPs in parliament this week: “I believe that the way that this Act has worked has overall improved access to care for people, both in terms of hospital and in our social care system, which has of course been an area of great scrutiny throughout the pandemic".

The health secretary made his statement after MPs highlighted evidence that disabled people have had their care packages cut during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Disability campaigners have demanded the government ditch the Care Act’s easements which it calls ‘completely unacceptable’.

Baroness Jane Campbell @BnsJaneCampbell tweeted her criticism of local authorities’ Coronavirus Act Easement powers on 28 September, tweeting ‘Today I will repeat my request that the Coronavirus Act Easement powers now be switched off in the Lords six month review debate.

‘Disabled children, adults and older people need their right to care and support services maintained to survive the pandemic, not cut!’

In a debate in the House of Lords on 28 September Baroness Campbell said she had heard "many worrying accounts of highly vulnerable individuals losing care and support when it was most needed".

Easement powers permit local authorities to reduce or withdraw care services normally protected by the Children and Families Act, the Mental Health Act and the Care Act.

Baroness Campbell warned:"They were only intended to be used, if local authorities were unable to comply with all of their legal duties, during the worst stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. And then, only if easement did not contravene individual human rights".

60 disability charities report disabled having care packages cut

Ahead of the Coronavirus Act debate, the chief executive of Disability Rights UK Kamran Mallick wrote a letter to MPs urging them to ‘restore the rights of disabled people’ by switching off the Coronvirus Act easement powers.

Two thirds of those who died of coronavirus in the UK have been disabled people Disability Rights UK highlighted. Kamran Mallick said: “A catalogue of neglect has built up from the start of the outbreak which has led to these shocking figures."

In his open letter, he wrote: ‘The Coronavirus Act allows for central and local government to remove the rights of disabled people to care and support, education and mental health protections. This is unfair, unjust and moreover, unnecessary. I urge you to ask the House, is it right that there is one rule of law for disabled people, and another for non-disabled people?’

Over 60 disability charities have reported significant numbers of disabled and older people had their care packages cut leaving them unable to cope with basic daily human needs such as eating, washing and going to the toilet.

The Office for National Statistics recently said disabled people were twice as likely to die from COVID-19.

But despite opposition from disability groups, Mr Hancock’s words in favour of the Act in parliament led to MPs approving the motion to renew the Coronavirus Act by 330 votes to 24.

We cannot let COVID-19 'become excuse to dismantle people’s care packages'

Disability charity Mencap's chief executive Edel Harris tweeted his anger at the health secretary’s words.

Edel Harris said: ‘With tough times ahead, we understand the need to extend the emergency coronavirus measures. But continuing to cut people’s social care at a time when they need it most is completely unacceptable.

‘While Matt Hancock has claimed the Coronavirus Act has improved access to social care, that is not what people with a learning disability are telling us.

‘Over two thirds of who we surveyed said their care package had been reduced since the start of the pandemic. Leaving them stuck in lockdown with increasing support needs.

'The scale of the cuts indicate that some local authorities may have unofficially used the Care Act easements. We cannot let COVID-19 become an excuse to slowly dismantle people’s care packages!'

The charity wants the Care Act easements to be replaced with more support for local authorities and social care providers to help them meet people’s needs during the winter and beyond. The charity is also demanding ‘an immediate injection of funding’ from the government to ‘stabilise the social care sector’ to help it protect people against COVID-19.