Up until now, the impact of cuts to local authorities on provision for disabled people has not been measured or compared at a national level. Coping with the Cuts reveals, for the first time, the true nature of how cuts to social care budgets are affecting disabled people up and down the country and which local councils are best managing budgetary changes. Compiled using freedom of information (FOI) requests sent to all local authorities in England and Wales, this research discovered a shocking dearth in local information on disabled people.
In conjunction with the interactive map that accompanies this research, this pamphlet provides a localised picture of changes to services for disabled people. It did not set out to ‘name and shame’ individual councils or to suggest no cuts are necessary. But it does show that smaller budgets need not inevitably lead to front-line cuts, higher charges or poorer quality services. There are ways – some innovative, some everyday and common sense – to mitigate the impact of the cuts on the front-line.