‘Hard Brexit’ could see disabled people lose right to independent living, say peers

Last Updated: February 11, 2017By

The process of exiting the European Union (EU) could worsen the social care crisis if the UK government does not protect access to personal assistants (PAs) from EU countries, disabled peers have warned.

They told a work and pensions minister that uncertainty over the “Brexit” negotiations with fellow EU members was leading to “terrible uncertainty” among the thousands of disabled people whose PAs are citizens of other EU countries.

But peers heard that there was not a single mention of disabled people or disability in the government’s white paper on Brexit.

The disabled crossbench peer Baroness [Jane] Campbell told the Lords debate on the impact of Brexit on disabled people – secured by the Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Scott – that she had employed PAs from at least 10 EU countries in the last 25 years.

Baroness Campbell (pictured) told fellow peers that other disabled people who employed PAs had told her that the pool of potential employees was “drying up”, while demand continued to rise, which meant the EU workforce was an “essential supplement”.

Source: ‘Hard Brexit’ could see disabled people lose right to independent living, say peers

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2 Comments

  1. nick February 11, 2017 at 3:31 pm - Reply

    i am a friend of Baroness [Jane] Campbell and she’s right. she’s lucky and can afford the EU rate of pay for the work undertaken by those that wish to do so

    however she would have great difficulty paying for a private health care english brexit team around £10000 per month to do the same work and would probably end up dead

    What you have to ask yourself with brexit is ,will the uk goverment protect the sick and disabled lives after brexit or end them ?

    That is the only question that needs addressing and with regret my view is that the uk goverment will end them in secret just as they have done so over the last few years in welfare reform for the sick and disabled

    without any input from the EU once outside of the EU the chances for most people will be there death

  2. Barry Davies February 11, 2017 at 5:28 pm - Reply

    There is mention of migration which despite all the propaganda from project fear remain will not be stopped entirely, and this person is using the words favoured by remain throughout might, could, may, perhaps, and disaster, none of which has any great meaning in the context of anything, there are general areas covered just because there is no specific mention of something the peer could solve by employing a resident, that doesn’t mean it is impossible.

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