Joey ?Councils pay for disabled to visit prostitutes and lap-dancing clubs from £520m taxpayer fund
By PAUL SIMS
Last updated at 6:05 PM on 15th August 2010
Councils are using taxpayers money to pay for prostitutes, visits to lap-dancing clubs and exotic holidays for the disabled, it emerged today.
One local authority has even agreed to pay for a 21-year-old with moderate learning disabilities to visit a sex worker in Amsterdam next month.
His trip will be paid for using money from a £520million scheme introduced by the last government which was designed to empower people with disabilities.
Sex holiday: A local authority has even agreed to pay for a 21-year-old with moderate learning disabilities to visit a prostitute in Amsterdam
Payments are transferred directly from council funds to service users who can then decide exactly how to spend it - so long as it meets their eligible needs.
The man's social worker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said they would be violating his human rights if they refused to let him use the money for sex.
His client - an angry, frustrated and anxious young man - has a need for sex, he claimed, and his job as a social worker was to meet his needs.
'He's planning to do more than just have his end away - he's having a holiday,' said the social worker. 'It's the first time he's left the country.'
One man who suffers from a brain injury has even had 'sex work' built into his council care package.
Organised by an occupational therapist, his liaisons were designed to teach him to become sexually self-reliant after his wife left him and took all their money.
Since then it has increased his confidence and restored his faith in women, care workers said.
According to data released under the Freedom of Information, exotic holidays, adventure breaks as well as visits to sex workers and lap-dancing clubs have all been permitted by council officials under the controversial scheme.
Those in favour claim that paying for sex is not against the law. Soliciting sexual services, however, kerb crawling and paying for sex with women who have been coerced into prostitution, is.
The 21-year-old man travelling to Amsterdam in September has never paid for sex before but intends to use his personal budget from social services to 'try it'.
'Who says he can't do what he wants?' his social worker said. 'We can't place restrictions on a young man who wants to experience the world.
'He has been to two different sexual health and sexual awareness courses and basically wants to try it. Like anyone else wouldn't.
'The girls in Amsterdam are far more protected than those on UK streets. Let him have some fun - I'd want to.
'Wouldn't you prefer that we can control this, guide him, educate him, support him to understand the process and ultimately end up satisfying his needs in a secure, licensed place where his happiness and growth as a person is the most important thing?
'The need is there. I identified it, I assessed it, and am going to be providing a service to meet it. By refusing to offer him this service would be a violation of his human rights.
'Put yourself in his shoes before you cut off his balls.'
In Greater Manchester and Norfolk, payments to social care clients can be used to pay for internet dating subscriptions.
In one year, a man from Norwich, who suffers with mental health problems, received a holiday to Tunisia, a subscription to an internet dating site, driving lessons and expensive art materials.
Documents released by the Department of Health revealed how the man received the funding - on top of his state benefits.
The man claimed he needed 'some time out, some rest and a change of scenery' after suffering marital problems which subsequently led to his mental breakdown.
He argued that a break in Tunisia with a friend was cheaper than a week in institutional care.
The FOI survey, by The Outsiders and TLC Trusts – two groups which campaign for the sexual rights of people with disabilities – found most local authorities said they did not 'condone' transfer of their funds to pay for sex.
But of 121 councils who responded, 97 per cent said they had no policy on the topic. They instead left it to the discretion of their social workers and junior managers.
Nevertheless, more than half of the councils had a strategy that 'explicitly empowered' disabled people to pursue their sexual aspirations, according to the survey.
Liz Sayce, chief executive of disability network Radar, said the desire for sexual relations was a matter of human rights. Cases involving payments should be carefully examined on a 'case-by-case' basis, she added.
But Neil Coyle, director of policy at Disability Alliance, said most people with disabilities did not want or expect the state to pay for sexual services.
He said: 'Public bodies don't exist to find people sexual partners. When people go to councils for help, they are looking for essential services to maintain some level of dignified existence – help to dress and wash.'
Matthew Elliot, chief executive of The Taxpayers’ Alliance branded the use of public money as 'deeply worrying'.
He said: 'Many taxpayers will be appalled and offended that money intended for social care has been used in this way. What's more, it’s deeply worrying that this scheme has been so vulnerable to these abuses.
'It’s essential that where public funds are involved, there are the sort of checks and balances in place that prevent money being wasted in this way.'
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1303273/Councils-pay-disabled-visit-pros...
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