Disability? Forget the gym!

Published: 31 March, 2011

• CAMDEN COUNCIL is secretly abolishing free gym access for disabled people as of April 1 on top of the other services they are cutting from this vulnerable group. 

There has been no consultation or warning about this particular move.

Previously everyone on Disability Living Allowance or with a Disabled Person’s Freedom Pass could have free gym, swimming and exercise classes. The only charge was £6.15 a year for a Wellness Leisure Card.

Disabled people, including wheelchair users and those with severe mental health problems, will now have to fork out at least £9.95 a month to keep healthy or pay £3.35 per gym session.  

This is still a discount but it will put off a lot of disabled people who need to use the gym to combat their disability.

Unlike other people, disabled users are now blocked from paying annually in advance. I suspect this is because the council are planning to increase the charges as soon as the change slips through.

New eligibility criteria do not even refer to disabled people. Before applicants proved their disability with DLA or a Freedom Pass, but the new scheme does not test disability at all, it tests income.  

According to a letter from GLL, the company that runs the council’s sports centres, the disabled discount is now only available to people on Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disablement Allowance. These benefits are not related to disability – they apply to those too sick to work. 

Current wellness card holders will still be able to use the leisure centre free until their cards expire but anyone renewing or applying now will have to pay the new fees.

Asking disabled people to pay is mean-spirited and counterproductive. It will put off large numbers of vulnerable people. The council and the NHS will have to pick up the tab when people become more disabled and dependent. The council should reconsider.

JASON ROBERTS, Address supplied