George Osborne’s legacy is all around us: his cuts left Britain helpless to resist Covid | Conservatives | The Guardian

This is so true, but to date nothing has been done to reverse cuts, even a proportion of them.

It was wrong then and therefore is still wrong now and even today all Local Authorities (LAs) are having to find savings, for costs and demand for services are forever increasing, while the Government Grant is not in any realistic proportion. In reality there were no savings to be made and this has been proven by COVID in so many ways.

Virtually all LA services are suffering and Social Care was and is decimated. As Polly states the poor, sick and disabled, those who could least afford any cuts to services, were the ones to suffer most, leading in some instances to their deaths, especially when the changes to welfare benefits are taken into account. For to claim welfare benefits the eligibility was tightened and claimants were sanctioned for the least failure to abide by the ongoing stringent conditions related to payments and eligibility to benefits. The loss of a miniscule amount of benefit had enormous consequences for persons on benefits, who were most likely living on a day to day basis from one benefit payment to another. For some, even the benefits they received were insufficient to manage.

But LAs are not the only authorities suffering for Health Authorities are suffering too, for while they have been receiving some increased funding the increases are in no way sufficient to maintain services at a level required. In fact the funding for the UK needs to be seriously looked at and it has to be sufficient for the 21st century and buffers need to be maintained to cater for the unexpected, for COVID will not be the last.

Also, with the state of pay scales in the UK, this left many who are in employment unable to manage. Many jobs have been lost over the last few years and even though other jobs have been created these will, more than likely, be at the lowest rate of pay (National Living Wage or even the Minimum Living Wage for persons under 25 years) and maybe part-time rather than full-time. Whereas the starting point for pay should be the Real Living Wage.

LAs do obtain funding in otherways, one being Business Rates, but these are also decreasing due to the effects of lockdowns and COVID restrictions limiting businesses opening.

The UK has never been good at pay rates for those on the lower levels of pay and George Osborne and his cronies did their utmost to ensure these pay levels were kept low, especially when costs were increasing.

One does not need to be a genius to see that this is wrong and not sustainable for a healthy and prosperous UK and which is equal to all.

 

Source: George Osborne’s legacy is all around us: his cuts left Britain helpless to resist Covid | Conservatives | The Guardian

95% of decisions in favour of parents, but nobody wins at the SEND Tribunal – Special Needs Jungle

Unfortunately Local Authorities (LAs) are not only not working with the ‘best interests’ of children under ‘SEND’ or ‘SENDIST’, as they also are not in many assessments of Need for both children and adults.

Are they doing this deliberately, I feel they are, but not because they are mean and wish to do do, although some may, no it is because LAs have been left desperately short of funding, due to 10 years of austerity cuts and the the additional costs of COVID-19.

In fact, social care has never been sufficiently funded and this is purely down to successive Government in depriving LAs of sufficient funding, not only for social care, but many other essential services.

Also when Governments put additional responsibilities on LAs, the Government fail to provide the additional funding to allow the LAs to successfully manage these additional responsibilities.

To a large extent this is also the care with health care (NHS), but no where to the same degree.

Is it that these Governments do not understand LAs and especially Social Care, well to some extent this can be so, but they also see LAs as a means to save on funding, as they do not fully understand the needs.

This has been recently be shown in the Governments handling of PPE during this COVID-19 pandemic. for they could not see the need to have a large stock of PPE, but would assume that they just need supplies to cover the usual demand, and felt if that demand increase it would be easy to obtain additional supplies, which COVID-19 has proved is a false premise.

But like LAs in their dealings with SEND and SENDIST, they never learn and only look to make saving, when, effectively saving are not there to be made, it is pure incompetence.

So when, it is clear needs are not being covered or they spend money they can ill afford to in defence of indefensible legal cases, this leads LAs to be even more short of funding, rather than cut their losses and pay or provide what they should have done initially.

This, in turn, creates an impossible situation for the persons in need and their families, who are already in very stressful situations and they should not be subjected to immense further stress from LAs and technically Governments.

The leaders of LAs in challenging the Tribunal’s to be changed is far from the answer, but LAs see this has the easiest option.

For the LAs are completely ‘at fault’ and so are the Government, but to challenge the Government for more substantial is much more difficult.

In addition the need to have Social Care, which is effectively as important as health care and could be more so, is far from recognised by Government and unfortunately a sizeable portion of the UK population. For, if you are not in need of Social care, many will not see its importance, that is, until they require it for themselves or for a loved family member.

Most people use health care. but not the same proportion use social care, so social care is not recognise as a very essential service, when it really is.

This Government needs to do, urgently, to reverse the non-actions of itself and many previous Governments and immediately provide all the funding for LAs to provide all that is required within Social Care, which will include SEND and SENDIST.

For this reason and many more, I created the petition, Solve the crisis in Social Care,

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/solve-the-crisis-in-social-care.

Please show your support for children and adults in need of social care, by signing the petition and then sharing.

 

Source: 95% of decisions in favour of parents, but nobody wins at the SEND Tribunal – Special Needs Jungle

Council proposes to increase social worker caseloads to help address financial crisis| Community Care

The Government is wrong again for it is totally inappropriate for local government secretary Robert Jenrick to say the the authority had been “entirely irresponsible with their spending and investments”.

For it is the Government who are entirely irresponsible with their funding of not just Croydon, but all Local Authorities (LAs).

The funding of Social Care has never been sufficiently funded, even before 1970, when LAs were made responsible for all Social Care and the 10 years of austerity cuts only compounded this and then the additional costs related to COVID-19 made a very bad situation even worse.

Yes, the Government has provided some extra funding for COVID-19 costs incurred, but again the Government funding fell way short of what is required.

We all wonder what this Government is good at, well they are certainly good at getting things wrong, in fact on this they are exceptional, something they have fully mastered.

 

Source: Council proposes to increase social worker caseloads to help address financial crisis | Community Care

Social care challenge appears to be getting worse – By Silva Homes | Care Industry News

Indeed Social Care is in crisis and has been for many years, this is down to a number of factors

lack of Government investment
abysmal staff salaries
lack of care workers
unsocial hours
poor working conditions
no staff sick pay scheme
and many others

I put lack of Government investment at the top because if this was solved then some of the others could also be.

As to investment in social care, this has never been sufficient, but 10 years of austerity cuts and now COVID-19 have made the crisis very more serious.

So, lets look at social care, before 1970 social care was administered by a ‘mishmash’ of organisations

local authorities
charities
voluntary sector
health
and many others

But in 1970 the Government of the day decided to bring all social care to be administered by local authorities, but true to form, the Government did not provide anywhere near the funding that was required and over the years the gap from what funding is provided to what is actually required has been increasing.

Many Governments in the last few years have promised to solve the funding process and a considerable amount of the work required as already been done.

In fact, in the David Cameron Governments they were prepared to go ahead in 2015, but decided to defer until April 2020.

Now in April 2020 we were in the COVID-19 pandemic and still are, so was this the reason for no action, who knows.

But, urgent action needs to be taken, not just for care homes, but the whole of Social care which includes home care, respite, supported living, hospices for both children and adults as well as care homes.

Well some action has occurred for in July 2020, an advisor was appointed on the proposal for the NHS to take over social care.

So, action has been taken, but how is it proceeding, who knows?

Governments are ‘ace’ at putting proposals forward and creating working groups, but they are not good at putting proposals into action and thereby solve the crisis and they could well be lost in the ‘black hole’ of Government.

To ensure actions are finalised, I created the petition, Solve the crisis in Social Care, https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/solve-the-crisis-in-social-care.

Please consider looking at the petition and, if you agree, please sign and share.

Should you require more information this can be found here.

 

 

Source: Social care challenge appears to be getting worse – By Silva Homes | Care Industry News

Why Is Basic Decency Towards Learning Disabled People Remarkable?

I agree, unfortunately caring and carers with regards to Social Care does not get a good press and the Governments attitude to Social Care goes a long way to put social Care in not a good light.

But for those who have a need for Social Care it is a very important lifeline.

As to doing your duty being treated as exceptional, well unfortunately this appears to be so as there are so many examples of bad care and in some instances very bad care.

Winterbourne was mentioned and even if this was the exception, then that would be bad, but it is not the exception, for bad care happens daily.

But a lot of it goes unreported as those in need of care and their family are scared of losing the care they have, no matter how bad it is.

I facilitate a Learning Disability Carers group and when the carers are talking I heard some instances of bad care, but they do not wish to allow me to take it further as they have been advised that the care would be withdrawn if they do, leaving them with no care at all.

I am a carers representative on our local Learning Disabilities Partnership Board and I have request a presentation from the Council run inspection teak, who should be inspecting Care Providers, for I believe they are not looking deeply enough into actual care delivery.

As to the CQC, I feel they spend to much time on looking at records, for anything can be written down, which may or may not mirror the actual care delivery.

So, I will start with the local council team and then ask for the CQC to present.

Care is in crisis for a large number of reasons, of which funding is a major concern.

For social Care has never been sufficiently funded from 1970, when it was brought under the control of local Authorities, and well before 1970. Then we had 10 years of austerity and now COVID-19 making the crisis even worse.

The reference to 1970 was when Social Care when brought under the control of Local Authorities (LAs) for before that it was a ‘mishmash’ of sources. Some LAs, but others included Charities, voluntary organisations, health and many others.

But as well as Funding there is

insufficient staff
abysmal pay
poor working conditions
unsocial hours
insufficient time
lack of training and skills
and others.

To many people caring is seen as an unskilled profession, well, if it is done badly then it is, but to provide good quality care is is far from it.

For, as we all are, persons in need of care are individuals and not objects, for they have feelings, they have choices, may need emotional support, routine to be followed, knowledge of a persons conditions, such as dementia, learning disabilities, autism and many others and in most cases a mixture of conditions.

So, in caring you can not, or should not, assume that caring for one person will be exactly the same as the next one and could need to change on a daily basis, or even more frequently.

So, it is a very skilled profession, for which the salary is nowhere sufficient, as caring has been left so short for far too long. Government promises have been broken so many times and social care has been left to sink, well sinking is not infinite and will come to a base from which it will not recover.

That base is very near and in some instances has been reached.

Action was urgently required, yesterday and certainly today, for tomorrow could well be too late.

Support for my petition, Solve the crisis in Social Care,

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/solve-the-crisis-in-social-care

Same Difference

In late July 2019, I tweeted asking families with autistic or learning disabled children to share their experience of “sparkling” actions by health and social care professionals. I was writing a book about how professionals could make a difference in the lives of children and their families, and the manuscript was woefully negative.

The tweets started appearing and the thread grew across the next few weeks. They included extraordinary examples of what I came to call “pockets of brilliance”. An administrator who included pug memes in the appointment letters for a dog-loving young patient. Professionals who were prepared to sit on the stairs so a child could stay in their bedroom during a visit. The GP who told one mother: “I don’t know very much about autism, but I promise you that I will do all I can to learn.” Another GP who rang a mother in the evening after…

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Data on Covid care home deaths kept secret ‘to protect commercial interests’ | World news | The Guardian

Exclusive: English and Scottish regulators refuse to reveal homes with most fatalities

Source: Data on Covid care home deaths kept secret ‘to protect commercial interests’ | World news | The Guardian

Lockdown has brought families of learning disabled people to their knees | Edel Harris | Society | The Guardian

The support system so many rely on was struggling before the coronavirus crisis. Now it is truly broken

Source: Lockdown has brought families of learning disabled people to their knees | Edel Harris | Society | The Guardian

 

 

Lockdown has brought families of learning disabled people to their knees | Learning disability | The Guardian

The support system so many rely on was struggling before the coronavirus crisis. Now it is truly broken

Source: Lockdown has brought families of learning disabled people to their knees | Learning disability | The Guardian

Will social care go back into the NHS? – DPAC

I thank you for this information as it is broadening my knowledge regarding disability. As I did not become involved in disability areas until the 1980s, I was unaware that disability had been within health before the 1970s, although I was aware of the health and social care models to some degree, but did not do any background research.

I became aware of disability in the 1980s when I met my current wife, who already had a disabled daughter, so this was my introduction and I went on a steep learning curve on how my wife and her daughter was being dealt with at that time. I did not like what I was seeing and did my best to improve their lives, but I did not have any experience in dealing with authorities, but since then I have gained in those areas and and again I did not care for what I was seeing, as even with the social model people were not being treated as individuals as they had to fit in with an inadequate system, not realising that previously the system had been even more inadequate.

There were many words spoken by these authorities, but on now looking back they were just saying the words and not understanding there meanings, either by design or not..

Yes, by moving much of disability to be under Local Council authorities may have been an improvement, but the improvement was way short of what it should have been. Perhaps, this had more to do with funding, than other matters, or am I just being generous in my thought process.

But, for whatever the reason , the move to social care has not worked.

Now, I am not saying disability should be brought back into health, but social care and health care for disabilities should be under the responsibility of one organisation and current, health seems to have more in its favour than social or would a completely new organisation be better and take all aspects of social and health care under its wing.

But, whatever, is to be done sufficient funding as to be made available and not made to exist on a ‘shoe-string’ like at present. Also, not to be used within the aspects of a ‘political football’ as we have seen in many other areas over the years. This being, some funding, but most likely not enough to be made available when the then Government feels like it and not when it does not. Here we are dealing with peoples lives and for many of them, if not most, due to circumstances beyond their control, for no one willingly wishes to be disabled and many will have been from birth.

People with disabilities have to be treated with respect and dignity and the current state of Social Care is falling way short on this, not due to the people working within the Care Profession, but down to the various authorities, of which the government is the main authority.

For we hear them speak, sometimes, but not enough, but then actions are even less, if at all. This and previous Governments have made promises after promises, not never any actions to make these promises good.

This has to STOP and STOP now. Yes, due to COVID-19 this Government has been spending money, which technically they have not got, but disabled people have to be given respect and dignity and this is at a cost, which has to come from the Government.

The Government and most in authority do not have a clue, but disabled people do and therefore the Government needs to listen to disabled people from every quarter to gain a full grasp of what is required.

Do not use labels, but look at people as individuals who are all different and create a system that adjusts to the person and not, as currently, where the person has to adjust to the system, ‘person-centred care’ as it should be and not what can be afforded.

This will be some task and the Government needs to be open to it, but, unfortunately time is not on our side, for this should have been done many years ago, but currently, Social Care is in a severe crisis and may not have much longer before it eventually completely disintegrates.

The crisis in Social Care needs to be solved and solved now.

Above I have mentioned some of the reasons, but there are many more, which is why I created the Petition, Solve the crisis in Social Care, https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/solve-the-crisis-in-social-care

As I have said there are many reasons for the crisis and many of these can be found by looking at https://www.dropbox.com/s/v8h8caytwwh3beq/Solve%20the%20crisis%20in%20Social%20Care%20%208.docx?dl=0

There will be other reasons and by all of us ‘working together’ the crisis can be solved.

Please support the petition.

 

Source: Will social care go back into the NHS? – DPAC

Welsh Mother Barbara MacArthur, 93, Talks About Being A Carer After Her Guardian Letter Goes Viral JULY 30, 2020

This is caring in the UK in the 21st century, while it is more akin to the 18th.

It should not be this way and Yes, Coronavirus, is the cause to some degree, but not all.

Social Care has been seriously under-funding for years, well before coronavirus and also, before austerity. Both have done their best to bring Social Care down, but Social Care was under-funded in 2010, due to many previous Governments not taking social care seriously and therefore never funding it sufficiently.

Now, social care, is not only seriously short of funding, but also staff to provide the care.

Many factors are the cause, one being the abysmal rate of pay to carers, which for many is only on or just above the National Living Wage and for those under 25 years, the National Minimum Wage.

Carers in many areas, especially the Government are classed as ‘unskilled, which is completely wrong, if care is being delivered correctly, which it always should be, but not in some instances.

Other factors include ‘conditions of employment, travel expenses, holiday and sick pay to mention a few.

As in the NHS, without non-UK workers, social care would be virtually non-existent, but the new regulations being put forward will make it more difficult for non-UK workers to come to the UK to working the Care Profession.

During the Coronavirus pandemic much has been said abot care workers in relation to care homes, but social care extends to more than care homes, for there is home care, supported living, respite, hospices, etc and all are affected.

This Governments as was the case with previous Governments. appear to be incapable to understand the problem or is it they do not wish to.

To have social care and health care separate is a recipe for disaster as we can all see, therefore all care needs to be under the same organisation and a means of funding needs to be found.

But what we do not need is for social care to be treated as a ‘political football’, to be kicked away when the Government wishes, as Governments have done to many areas that it finances to some degree over the years, the Health Service being just one, but there are many others.

Social Care is seriously in crisis and that is why I created the petition, Solve the crisis in Social Care, https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/solve-the-crisis-in-social-care

More information, which contains much of the above can be found at https://www.dropbox.com/s/v8h8caytwwh3beq/Solve%20the%20crisis%20in%20Social%20Care%20%208.docx?dl=0

I do not trust this Government, in fact any Government, but especially this one so Social Care needs YOU, please show your support for Social Care by signing the petition and then sharing.

#care #socialcare #crisis

Same Difference

For more than half a century, Barbara MacArthur, one of the first female police officers in south Wales, has worked countless, long, unpaid hours as a carer.

In the 1960s she began looking after her ailing parents in her small terraced house in Cardiff and now, aged 93 and frail herself, she continues to care for her 66-year-old disabled son, Howard. The pair live on the cramped ground floor of the house because neither can make it up the stairs.

MacArthur has always approached her caring duties with stoicism and good humour – until this week. The coronavirus crisis prompted her to write a heartbreaking letter to the Guardian in which she spelled out her fight for survival, argued that the care system was broken and said she wished she had the time to feel lonely.

Speaking on the doorstep of her home on Thursday, with Howard occasionally putting…

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