Consultation on the discretionary freedom pass

In Lambeth, we carried out two phases of consultation on the discretionary freedom pass during 2011 to 2012. Thank you to everyone who took part, and gave us their views and comments. We received a good response to both consultations.

What did the council consult on?

The first phase of consultation:

Lambeth, in line with other local authorities, uses the national eligibility criteria when awarding freedom passes to disabled people. However, the council had also been issuing passes to people on a discretionary basis, mainly to people with mental health problems. Because of the current financial situation, Lambeth proposed to stop the use of discretionary freedom passes. In the first consultation, we asked current users and other relevant stakeholders what the impact of removing the pass would be. Feedback from the consultation was submitted to the Cabinet meeting taking place on 25 July 2011, including a  Cabinet report and consultation report, plus an Equalities Impact Assessment. The council decided that Discretionary Freedom Passes should continue to be provided to some service users meeting specific eligibility criteria. You may also access information around the decisions made during the Cabinet meeting.

The second phase of consultation:

The council developed draft eligibility criteria for the discretionary Freedom Pass and we consulted on these to find out what people thought about the proposed criteria.

All of the feedback was submitted to the Council’s Cabinet meeting on 6 July 2012, together with recommendations for Cabinet members to consider. Councillors accepted the recommendation of implementing the new eligibility criteria for the discretionary freedom pass. It was decided that the new eligibility criteria would be implemented, so that some people with mental health problems could get a discretionary freedom pass. You can find full details in the Council’s Cabinet report plus the Equalities Impact Assessment.

The council wrote to all discretionary freedom pass holders to let them know about the changes being implemented. The Accessible Transport team have been reviewing all discretionary freedom pass holders using the new eligibility criteria for the pass.

Any questions?

If you want to ask questions about this consultation, you can contact us as follows:

• send an email to acs-consultation@lambeth.gov.uk
• text us on: 07772 103 628
• phone us on freephone: 0800 013 1497
• write to us at: Freepost RSKJ-YSKA-AUSA
  ACS Consultation
  Lambeth Adults' and Community Services
  Phoenix House
  10 Wandsworth Road
  London SW8 2LL