PRESS RELEASE
COUNCIL CASH BLOW MEANS DISABILITY GROUP MAY CLOSE
CONTACT THE COALITION ON: 0121 242 5800
A group, which represents 700 local disabled people faces closure next month because it says Birmingham City Council has failed to pay £40,000, promised to it.
The Coalition of Disabled People, Birmingham, claims that the City Council’s failure to pay the cash means that it will have to close its doors in May.
Although it has sought to resolve the problem, its approaches to Birmingham City Council have met with no success. In desperation it has approached The Minister for Disabled People Anne McGuire asking her to step in and help out.
The city council’s funding blow is the latest one to hit the Coalition in recent months. In February 2006 it was told it would not receive funding from the Big Lottery Fund – it had applied for three years funding. This has made it even more dependent on the Council for support.
If the Coalition does close, it could actually present a major problem not just for local disabled people but also for Birmingham City Council. This is because a new legal duty - part of the 2005 Disability Discrimination Act – says that public bodies like Birmingham City Council must promote disability equality for disabled people using its services, and must involve disabled people in the process.
The Birmingham Coalition questions how Birmingham City Council can be said to be involving disabled people in promoting disability equality at a time when it is allowing the main group representing disabled people in the city to close.
As Tom Comerford, Development Worker at the coalition put it: “Why is the council allowing the main user-led organisation for disabled people in Birmingham to close down when it has 700 members and a wealth of skills, knowledge and experience.
It is explained in a letter from Dr. Mashuq Ally, Head of Diversity and Equality at Birmingham City Council to state that Birmingham City Council have been advised not to support the Coalition.
If the Birmingham Coalition is forced to close it will be the third local user-led disability group to shut its doors in the past six months. Last month Birmingham based Disability West Midlands was forced to close after 29 years because it lost its £85,000 core funding and in December last year the Shropshire Consortium for Disabled People closed after operating for 15 years.
Ends
NOTES TO EDITORS
The Disability Equality Duty says that from December 2006 all public bodies including councils must promote disability equality for disabled people using their services.
The Disability Equality Duty, contained in the 2005 Disability Discrimination Act, is aimed at combating “institutional disablism” - systematic discrimination against disabled people. One of the key features of the new duty is that public bodies like councils must draw up a Disability Equality Scheme – a detailed action plan that commits them to achieving stated disability equality targets or goals. The Disability Equality Scheme must be drawn up with the involvement of disabled people and this may mean involving representative groups of disabled people such as the Birmingham Coalition.
For more details on the Disability Equality Duty go to the Disability Rights Commission website www.drc-gb.org