Burnham says ‘difficult decisions’ will have to be made on funding social care reform in England
‘It feels like I’m being punished for being disabled,’ graduate sayspublished at 12:49 BST 29 July
Erica Witherington
Disability reporter
Image source, Maxwell McKnight
For business management graduate Maxwell McKnight,
social care is not about later life. It’s what allows him to live independently
right now.
Direct payments from his council mean he can hire his own assistants to support him with daily tasks such as getting up, getting
washed, getting dressed.
Maxwell, 22, has just graduated with a first-class degree and he’s about to start
work as a marketing executive, but says the social care
system still puts a ceiling on his ambitions.
If you have savings worth more than £23,250, you are not entitled to help with care costs from the council and have to start paying for your own support. For Maxwell, he says that would be almost £130,000 a year, so saving for a deposit for his own home feels impossible.
“I could be a taxpayer, I could do everything right in
life,” he says, “but because I need the support of others, I won’t be
able to have the same dreams as everybody else.”
“That doesn’t feel like support. It feels like being
punished for being disabled,” he adds.
