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The costs and benefits of independent living ‘The costs and benefits of independent living’, published by the Office for Disability Issues, summarises existing evidence about investment in independent living (IL). In doing this it examines the evidence from current literature available, case studies and service delivery. The report finds the following:
The delivery of independent living support is more cost effective or at least as cost effective as traditional care provision.
The case studies tended to back up the evidence found in the literature. for example it costs more to send young disabled people to special schools than tom facilitate their further education within the community.
Traditional care provision suits individuals who do not want the responsibility of directing their own care.
But traditional care provision acts as a barrier to taking paid employment.
In the short term there would be considerable costs in implementing greater independent living provision. Any savings are more likely to be felt by emergency and acute care services rather than local authorities and providers themselves.
"A particularly salient point raised in the consultations was that any savings are more likely to be felt by emergency and acute care services in the long term, rather than local authorities and providers themselves, despite the fact that it is the latter groups that are required to make the upfront investment."
IL provides significantly more benefits for the user than conventional forms of service provision. Some of the case studies undertaken as part of this research also indicated that IL can also be cost effective for the individual recipients.
At service delivery level several published evaluations that were identified in the literature highlighted the reduced costs involved in the delivery of Independent Support mechanisms. It was also pointed out, however, that there would be considerable transformational costs involved in rolling out IL more widely. It is largely expected that these upfront costs will be offset in savings, at both service delivery and macro level, in the long term, suggesting, therefore, the need to accept an ‘invest to save’ approach.
The published material at macro-economic level on the costs and benefits of Independent Living is relatively sparse. However, the literature does highlight that there are significant costs for the Exchequer in not addressing barriers faced by disabled people. Evidence from the case studies and consultations corroborates and strengthens this view, showing that investment in Independent Living would result in sizeable Exchequer long- term cost savings, due to the increase in tax revenues, a reduced state benefits bill and less pressure on health and acute social care services.
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