Catherine West, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, has tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM) in Parliament on BottonVillage.
EDM 249 is entitled “Volunteer Vocational Co-Workers at Botton Village Community for Adults with Special Needs”.
Full details of the EDM may be found here on the Parliament website . The Parliament website also provides an explanation of the significance of EDMs .
If you are the carer, parent or relative of someone with a learning disability, AND you would like to see the issues around CVT and Botton debated, or at least given more publicity, you might wish to email your MP asking him/her to support this EDM. Below is the suggested text of such an an email.
This version is quite lengthy, since it explains the issues involved (with which your MP may not be familiar)…
Dear x
I am writing, as a constituent with a learning disabled family member, to ask you to support a non-party EDM, number 249, which can be viewed on the following link:
http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2015-16/249
Supporting this will help a sustainable community continue to pioneer and ecologically sound lifestyle, save the taxpayer a lot of money, help the learning disabled keep their work so they contribute to society and support their choice to freely choose to live as they want in a family shared-life.
Short history
The Camphill movement is 60 years old and, within a sustainable community, provides safe and fulfilling environment for each disabled person which enabling them to genuinely work and contribute to society. Nine of the 30+ sites in the UK fall under one charity Camphill Village Trust CVT which was created to hold the assets of the communities for their wellbeing (most of the other Camphill communities are separate charities that are members of a federated organisation the AoCC).
This model enjoys the full support of the Scottish parliament (see below link) and is recognised as a world-leading system for the wellbeing of those with disabilities. In addition it is internationally renowned and has won awards for sustainability and ecologically sound farming methods and pioneered many sustainable technologies. Frankly these are a national asset.
Forced segregation
In the last three years a new CVT management team have been forcing apartheid (literal translation living-apart) on the learning disabled. Changing the traditional Vocational Volunteer Co-worker (VVC) shared-life model to a shift-working support system has caused a lot of distress and direct harm to the learning disabled and we have medical experts and social services reports to back this up. It is not really understood why they have chosen to dismantle this historic organisation and convert them into another bog-standard care facilities.
Baroness Hollins raised the matter of Botton in the House of Lords this spring and Mark Harper minister for Disabled People is also conducting an investigation at a community on his constituency. Baroness Hollins speech can be viewed on this link:
http://www.actionforbotton.org/Baroness-Hollins-in-House-of-Lords
Volunteer communities are cost-effective
What’s more the shift system costs 82% more to run than the community life-sharing system, more importantly authenticated figures show it costs the taxpayer 3000% MORE in in-work benefits. This is because Co-workers who share food and work never claim in work benefits whereas low-paid shift workers, who live outside the community. The changes to working model seem ideological as they were also implemented without any financial assessment of their impact on the charity by management and furthermore without consultation with the community members including the learning disabled who have been clear that they do not want these changes, bravely creating a petition to this effect.
http://www.actionforbotton.org/New-CVT-model-exposed-as-uneconomic-and-inferior
EDM
This EDM briefly sets out the background and simply calls on the Trust to work with the authorities to preserve the Co-working model. It is a non-party issue and many MPs who are interested in sustainability and provision for the learning disabled have already pledged support via their constituents.
This issue will ultimately effect all learning disabled people in the UK as their choice is being taken away in breach of the specific regulations of the Care Act which requires that hey be given the choice.
We ask that you also sign up to this EDM and support it to save the Taxpayer thousands in unnecessary in-work benefits and show that it’s not acceptable to remove choice, especially the choice to work and live family lives form the learning disabled, and support sustainable communities in the UK.
Below please find links to press coverage and further information
Yours
xxxxxxxxxxxx