BBC – Carer calls for more help from Leicester City Council

 

A single mother from Leicester who has cared for her severely disabled son for 18 years has been calling for more help from the city council.

Patricia Brown claims that her health is now suffering because of a lack of suitable care for her son Davrick.

Leicester City Council said it is working to help the family.

BBC – Carer calls for more help from Leicester City Council

Protest planned over adult social care cuts in Kirklees

 

 

A PROTEST against planned cuts to adult social care will take place in Huddersfield tomorrow.

The day of action will start at 11am outside Huddersfield Town Hall.

Organisers said the peaceful protest was against planned learning disability service cuts. Š

The organisers said it “could be our only chance to make a public protest before the council makes its decisions.”

One of the organisations protesting is the Learning Disabilities Coalition, and the protest is part of their Protect the Front Line campaign to make sure that the Government provides enough money so that people with a learning disability have the same choices and chances as everyone else.

read in full here – Protest planned over adult social care cuts in Kirklees – Local West Yorkshire News – News – Huddersfield Examiner

Government failing the disabled, say UK sight loss charities | Ekklesia

 

Key measures in the flagship Welfare Reform Bill represent a major assault on the incomes and independence of working age blind, partially sighted and other disabled people, says a major new report launched today (31 January 2011).

‘More Than Meets the Eye’, published by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) on behalf of seven sight loss charities, is calling on the Government to work with them to achieve the fairness and justice they promised in their reforms.

The report’s analysis highlights three key measures likely to have the greatest impact on blind and partially sighted people.

* Replacing Disability Living Allowance (DLA) with a Personal Independence Payment. This could mean 20 per cent fewer people able to receive the benefit, including up to 12,000 blind or partially sighted people.

* Time limiting contributory Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) to one year for those in the Work Related Activity Group. Yet 92 per cent of employers say they would find it ‘difficult’ or ‘impossible’ to employ somebody blind or partially sighted.

* Linking benefits to the Consumer Price Index (rather than the higher Retail Price Index). For those currently claiming higher rate DLA care this could represent a loss of up to £360 a year – ten days home care – while those on lower rate DLA mobility may lose the equivalent of 20 Taxicard journeys a year.

read in full here  Government failing the disabled, say UK sight loss charities | Ekklesia

Leeds Crisis Centre: Council faces ‘tough decision’

 

from the Guardian

A senior councillor at the centre of plans to close a crisis centre for people with mental health problems in Leeds has said that ‘tough and painful decisions’ need to be taken by the authority.

Councillor Lucinda Yeadon

In a statement, councillor Lucinda Yeadon, executive board member with responsibility for adult social care, said that in other parts of the country the work of Leeds Crisis Centre was normally provided by the NHS.

She said that the largest number of referrals to the Leeds Crisis Centre come from the postcodes closest to where it is based; LS6, LS16, LS27 and LS11 and that many parts of Leeds receive no service from the centre, where people’s needs are met through other NHS services.

Leeds Crisis Centre: Council faces ‘tough decision’ | Leeds | guardian.co.uk

About Leeds Crisis Centre

Care charges set to increase in Lancashire

 

CHARGES faced by thousands of vulnerable people for adult social care are set to rise dramatically across the county.

More than half of the 13,000 people who receive day care services, meals on wheels and home care from Lancashire County Council would be forced to pay more under the proposals.

read in full here

‘It’s such a cruel illness’

 

Every day, Tommy Whitelaw realises afresh just how pointlessly cruel dementia can be.

It happened again just today. He has dug out some old photographs of his parents. Their marriage lasted 40 happy years, until Tommy senior’s death from cancer. He was the only boyfriend, the only husband, Joan ever had. But now, as she gazes at the photographs, she cannot recognise the man she loved. And her son, in despair, has a little cry for her.

“I can remember why my mum loved my dad,” he says. “But my mum can’t remember the man she loved. It just brought it home to me again, how cruel this illness is.”

read in full here

Plaid – UK Government Penalises Disabled Claimants

Plaid Cymru’s Hywel Williams MP has criticised the UK Government’s consultation on Disability Living Allowance (DLA) reform, arguing that their welfare reforms are unfairly targeting and stigmatising claimants.

Mr Williams accused the UK Government of portraying DLA claimants as ‘scroungers’ with the consultation drawing a supposed connection with claimants’ motivation to work and employment levels.

Mr Williams noted that DLA claimants tend to be older, less-well qualified, on benefits for longer, and in poorer health than other disabled people, and that this explained why so few were in work.

read in full here

We love our son but we need respite too

THE case of Riven Vincent, the mother of Celyn, a six-year-old girl with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, is heartbreaking.

The child with a lovely cloud of red curls needs round-the-clock care – and her mother just couldn’t cope with only the six hours of respite care she was given by her local authority. She asked social services to take Celyn into care. I say heartbreaking, because for a mother to be driven to make a decision to hand over a child she has cared for so lovingly must be awful. It is rooted in exhaustion and utter despair. The incident has one good outcome – it has highlighted the appalling national lack of respite care for parents of children with very special needs.

read in full here

Response from Ann Macfarlane, OBE

 

1579 petition handed to Kingston Council

Many Councillors will not know that the Independent Living Scheme (direct payments) in Kingston did not just happen but was borne out of the sheer desperation of two disabled people.   Both were in very different situations but neither could carry on living life through the support provided by relatives, volunteers and the community nursing service.  Back in 1987 Jane Campbell, now a Baroness in the House of Lords, and Ann Macfarlane OBE, made the decision to take control of their lives.  In order to gain this control they sought a meeting with the then Director of Social Services, Angela Julia.  It was a wet day, we had to rely on a volunteer driver, and as we journeyed from Surbiton to the Guildhall in Kingston we were determined to get a positive result.  As is often the case for disabled people, if we request something, we usually get landed with a job and this meeting proved no exception.   We asked for cash for care.   At that time, Direct Payments were illegal and the only way we would receive Council money was through a third party organisation.  Angela Julia asked Jane and me to go away and write the policy document and to write our own care plans.   It took Jane and me six months to come up with the Policy.   On the night that Angela Julia presented it to Council, it went through without a single alteration.  Jane was present at the meeting to hear the positive outcome.

read in full here

Final Call For DLA Consultation Submissions – by Rhydian

There is little over a week now to send me your own contribution to the joint The Broken of Britain / CarerWatch submission to the consultation on DLA reform: rhydian@thebrokenofbritain.org 

The submission will be sent off on the 10th of February by special delivery, to be certain that it arrives at the DWP by the 14th of February closing date. I will make every effort to include all evidence that is sent to me, or posted on the relevant threads in The Broken of Britain and CarerWatch forums. Having said that, please try to ensure that the evidence reaches me by the 7th of February at the latest so that I can edit the final document in time. To find out how to help me with preparing the document, click here.

read article in full here