Council defends charges of discrimination over cuts to bus passes

Authority is ‘satisfied’ that it carried out the required impact assessment

WEST Berkshire Council has hit back at accusations that it is discriminating against people with mental health issues by removing their entitlement to a free bus pass.

As part of its unprecedented £17.5m cuts, the council voted in favour of removing discretionary additions to the National Concessionary Travel Scheme.

Mental health campaigners have slammed the council over the move, saying it will isolate vulnerable people and also claiming that it failed to take into account the Equalities Act 2010.

But the council has defended itself and said it is satisfied that it will still meet its legal obligations.

It added that it carried out a full public consultation and an Equality Impact Assessment to determine the effect any changes could have.

Jackie Wilkinson, chairwoman of the Berkshire Mental Health User Group, said: “To me it feels quite targeted, like direct discrimination, and the impact this will have on people is huge.

“Rather than just removing the free bus pass, the council should have looked at every individual case and contacted them to find out whether they are eligible.

“People have been very stressed and upset about it and they feel abandoned and isolated.

“I also think the way the council did it was appalling.

“They just sent a letter out to people saying ‘your free bus pass is expiring’ and just gave them details of a website where they could reapply if they met certain criteria.

“Having access to free bus travel is important to addressing loneliness and depression and to be able to get to a doctor for appointments without worrying about the cost.

“Also, there doesn’t seem to have been any direct impact assessment and a lot of people may not have realised that there was a public consultation. It is outrageous.”

Campaigner Pearl Baker, whose son has a mental health issue, said: “What it means is that for me, if I have to take my son anywhere to meet anybody I have to pay for his travel.

“The worst thing of all is that they have discriminated against this group and I just think it is pretty awful.

“The Secretary of State says you have to refer to the Equalities Act and mental health issues are listed within the act, and I don’t think the council have taken that into account.”

A spokesman for West Berkshire Council, Martin Dunscombe, said: “The council consulted extensively on all its budget proposals and received nearly 10,000 responses.

“These responses were fully considered by the council before any decision was taken in respect of the proposed savings.

“Before making a decision on the various public transport proposals, the council also completed our Equalities Impact Assessment to ensure that it assessed the impact of these proposals on people with protected characteristics and details of this assessment were published by the council.

“The council is therefore satisfied that it has complied fully with its legal obligations under the Equalities Act 2010 in reaching the decision that it did.

“It should be noted that the council continues to fully implement the National Concessionary Travel Scheme in accordance with its statutory obligations.

“This scheme provides a mandatory bus concession for eligible older and disabled people.”