Solicitor seeks support for budget judicial review

A Scottish solicitor is looking for support from affected organisations as he considers a legal challenge to the Scottish Government's draft budget, announced this week.

Daniel Donaldson, director of the Legal Spark law centre, believes the budget could be capable of being taken to judicial review proceedings in relation to the Scottish Government’s legal obligations under the Equality Act 2010 and the Human Rights Act 1998.

He bases his view on the £500m cut in local authority funding, which threatens councils' ability to meet the funded support arrangements in place for disabled people and their carers. The package has been described as "totally unacceptable" by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities.

Mr Donaldson said that many of the people who had contacted Legal Spark had spoken of unfair re-assessments of their support arrangements because the local authority was looking to save money. Some of these people had already had one re-assessment done, and were now facing a further re-assessment with a view to reducing their support arrangements further.

He argues: "It is reasonably foreseeable that if you cut services within the public sector, the people who rely the most on those services will be adversely affected.

"Disabled people and the carers of disabled people rely on the support they receive from the public sector. It is therefore arguable that the budget proposed by the Finance Secretary discriminates against both disabled people and their carers.

"No one should have to face discrimination, or have their dignity violated as a result of cuts in the public sector. We will be speaking to stakeholders and disabled people’s organisations about the potential for judicial review.

"Alternatively, we will be looking for the Finance Secretary to provide a written undertaking, and a guarantee, that support arrangements for disabled people and their carers must not be cut as a result of this budget."

While the Scottish Government has launched a human rights campaign called "Fly the flag for human rights", and has consulted on the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, Mr Donaldson said this was "all just words unless the Scottish Government takes positive action to give those good words tangible meaning".

He can be contacted at contact@legalspark.co.uk