Vulnerable children forced into homelessness as local authorities routinely ignore child protection laws

Govt Newspeak

Exclusive: Families forced to spend nights in A&E waiting rooms, night buses and police stations after being denied emergency housing by local councils

Vulnerable children are being forced into homelessness because local authorities are routinely flouting child protection laws, lawyers and charities have warned.

Families with young children have been denied emergency accommodation by their local council and subsequently forced out onto the streets, spending nights in A&E waiting rooms, night buses and police stations.

Under the laws set out in the Children’s Act, local authorities are legally obliged to provide accommodation for minors, to prevent vulnerable children ending up on the streets.

But London charity Project 17, which works to end destitution among migrant children, said councils were effectively ignoring the law and often complying only after legal action was taken. It claimed that, of the scores of families it had supported that had initially been denied housing in the past year across the capital, around 90 per…

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Charity Fashion Show and Sale – Sheffield Mencap & Gateway

Sheffield Mencap & Gateway have great pleasure in advising you about a forthcoming event on Thursday 8 March 2018.

 

 

Please come and support Sheffield Mencap & Gateway for only £6 per person and you may find the fashion item you have always wished to have for an unbeatable price.

Just telephone  0114 2767757 and book your tickets.

Alternatively email mencapoffice@sheffieldmencap.org.uk

You know you can not miss the bargain waiting for you.

Review of autism home abuse condemns out-of-area commissioning failings : Community Care

A review into the abuse of adults with autism at a home in Somerset run by the National Autistic Society (NAS) has called for an overhaul of the monitoring of out-of-area care placements.

Mendip House, which closed in October 2016 following a highly critical inspection, was part of an NAS ‘campus’ home to adults with severe autism placed by 30 local authorities and clinical commissioning groups from across the UK.

The review by the Somerset Safeguarding Adults Board (SSAB) said Somerset County Council (SCC) “had to invest in an expensive and labour-intensive enquiry because of the lack of rigor and failures of judgement of commissioning professionals”.

“Had the National Autistic Society addressed long standing concerns and the commissioners undertaken essential reviewing and monitoring, the workload of SCC and the Enquiry Team would not have been as extensive,” it added.

The review criticised the failure of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to identify problems at the home earlier through its inspections.

It drew comparisons between Mendip House and Winterbourne View, the private hospital near Bristol where BBC Panorama exposed abuse of people with autism and learning disabilities.

It said: “There were over 30 different placement authorities across Somerset Court and although concerns were raised with SCC’s safeguarding team about other Somerset Court dwellings on at least four occasions between 2014-2016, not one identified concerns about Mendip House. Five years after the scandal of Winterbourne View Hospital this is remarkable.”

 

Source : Review of autism home abuse condemns out-of-area commissioning failings : Community Care

Disabled taxi price premium condemned by charity | DisabledGo News and Blog

Confusion over new rules for disabled taxi passenger fares has led to “discriminatory” price differences, a charity claims.

A test in Nottingham saw a wheelchair user quoted up to five times more than an able-bodied caller.

Muscular Dystrophy UK said the practice was unacceptable.

For an existing ban on charging more to come into force councils must compile a formal list of accessible taxis but many have not done this.

Nirav Shah, who was born with muscular dystrophy, rang four companies in Nottingham and was quoted higher prices by every one.

In one case, a journey from his home to the local hospital, a distance of 2.5 miles (4km), an able-bodied caller was quoted £3-4 while Mr Shah was quoted £15.

Mr Shah said he was “disheartened and disappointed”.

 

Source: Disabled taxi price premium condemned by charity | DisabledGo News and Blog

Fashion Show

Fashion Show Thursday 8 March 2017 at Sheffield Mencap & Gateway

Source: Fashion Show

Disabled people are being treated as ‘inhuman’ over PIP

Govt Newspeak

Warrington Disability Partnership chief executive Dave Thompson says disabled people are being treated as ‘inhuman’ over personal independence payments

 Disability Partnership chief  has spoken out over personal independence payments.

 Disability Partnership chief  has spoken out over personal independence payments.

 A CHARITY boss says that disabled people are being treated as ‘inhuman’ by assessors when claiming benefits. The Department for Work and Pensions is currently in the process of transitioning from its previous disability living allowance system to the new personal independence payments. But a number of severely disabled people have seen their benefits cut following mobility and independence assessments as part of the switch to PIP.

Warrington Disability Partnership co-founder and chief executive Dave Thompson has spoken out over the issue after a young volunteer with the charity, who has cerebral palsy, was told that the money she received would be cut following her assessment.

In an impassioned plea on…

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How our dementia campaigns kept dementia on the agenda in 2017 : Alzheimer’s Society

How we kept dementia on the agenda all year round

Rosie Leatherland, Public Affairs and Campaigning Officer, talks us through a year of campaigning for people affected by dementia.

2017 was a year that dementia was placed firmly on the agenda and we couldn’t have done it without your help.

From dominating the snap election with the dementia tax debate to confirming Government commitment to consult on a long term social care solution; there has been plenty for us to campaign on.

So what have we achieved this year with the support of our fantastic campaigners? Here are just a few of the highlights.

 

Source: How our dementia campaigns kept dementia on the agenda in 2017  :  Alzheimer’s Society

Poor missing out on surplus food as producers make more cash sending it to green firms

Where are our priorities recycling, energy production, feeding our population or any others.

What is the purpose of food is it to feed people to form human energy and prolong survival or to produce other forms of energy, which again can be used for survival.

Where is the need most required?

Which is the most cost effective?

Which survival is more important?

Some questions and there will be many more before there will be effective answers.

Are we born to live or produce?

There lies the question, but who will provide the answers.

Govt Newspeak

Food producers are “incentivised” to send excess supplies to green energy plants rather than to charities feeding the hungry and homeless

Producers are paid more to send surplus food to green energy firms 

The poor are missing out on surplus food because producers make more money by sending it to green energy firms, it has emerged.

Food producers are “incentivised” to send excess supplies to green energy plants rather than to charities feeding the hungry and homeless , it has emerged.

Every year hundreds of thousands of tons of “waste” food is sent to anaerobic digestion plants, or ploughed back into the ground because it is cheaper than funnelling it to the needy.

Food charity FareShare urged ministers to launch a £15million fund that would cover storage and transport costs for 100,000 tons of food.

Labour MP Frank Field says the government must make sure there is a change

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December 2017 PIP Change FAQs | Mind, the mental health charity – help for mental health problems

December 2017 PIP ruling

In December 2017 the courts ruled that changes to PIP discriminate against people with mental health problems. Read our information about what this might means for people claiming PIP.

What were the changes to PIP the Government made in March?

PIP is awarded in two parts. One part looks at how your mental health affects your daily life, and the other looks at how your mental health affects your ability to travel and make journeys. In March 2017 the Government changed the law so that people who find it hard to make journeys because they become very distressed are entitled to less support from PIP.

Under the changes it’s still possible to qualify for the higher amount of support from PIP if you have a mental health problem but it is harder because the Government will not take into account distress. It says that it still takes into account how your mental health might affect your thinking, memory, and attention, or your ability to keep yourself and others safe when making a journey.

What does the ruling say?

The ruling says that the changes the Government made to PIP earlier this year are unlawful because:

• They unjustifiably discriminate against people with mental health problems
• The Government didn’t consult on them
• The Government didn’t have the right powers to make them

Source : December 2017 PIP Change FAQs | Mind, the mental health charity – help for mental health problems

DBC gives evidence to Work and Pensions Select Committee

The 4 witnesses from Citizens Advice, Scope, National Mencap and Sense are certainly tell the Work and Pension Select Committee about their findings regarding PIP and ESA assessments, but to what effect.

Hopefully the Select Committee will use this and other evidence to make major changes to the PIP and ESA progresses to improve them for the betterment of all claimants.

Disability Benefits Consortium

12th December 2017

The DBC has contributed to the Work and Pensions Select Committee which is conducting a welcome inquiry into the effectiveness of ESA and PIP assessments.

You can read our written evidence here

The Parliamentary Co-Chairs of the DBC (Rob Holland from Mencap and Victoria Holloway from Sense) also gave oral evidence.

You can watch the evidence session here

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