'Tax On Disability' Scrapped

Possibly the worst email leaked to me during the years our borough was run by the H&F Conservatives was this one which detailed how elderly and disabled residents had been put "at risk" after H&F Conservatives introduced a new hourly charge for vital home care services. I was therefore delighted to announce on Wednesday 3rd December, which was the United Nation’s International Day of Disabled People, that this "tax on disability" will now be abolished in the London Borough of  Hammersmith and Fulham.

This was a H&F Labour manifesto pledge and my colleagues and I found the necessary £324,000 a year to do this by halting a horribly wasteful £400,000 worth of council publications and lamp post vanity banners that H&F's former Conservative administration was so fond of. Since then we have also cut the council's PR department.

This stealth tax was also expensive to administer so we will save even more but worryingly despite that, we've been advised that this had still been seen as worthwhile by H&F's former Conservative administration because it deterred other people from asking for help.

There needs to be a sea change in how we as a society look at the essential services disabled people need just to carry out basic tasks and do everyday things. I hope that by abolishing what has widely become known as a "disability tax" we can contribute to that argument.