CASCAIDr’s CEO has long suggested during training sessions that mincing towards meanness is much harder to challenge, even with use of public law principles, in the context of adults’ social care or CHC services, than making a giant cut overnight. If commissioners aren’t care aware, and care managers and reviewers are risk averse or incentivised […]

This LGO’s decision from July 2018 offers some guidance on LA duties where vulnerable individuals have a DWP appointee.  Background The service user, a young woman, had disabilities causing deficits regarding keeping herself safe and living independently. She lived with her father who acted as her DWP appointee; he dealt with her correspondence and managed […]

This post is by Yo Dunn, who runs ConsultYo, a legal framework consultancy and training business, specialising in autism issues – www.consultyo.com From 3 April 2018 for two years a national trial is taking place which empowers the First-tier Tribunal Special Educational Needs and Disability (SENDIST) to make non-binding recommendations about health and social care […]

The Caseworker Bootcamp will be held in the East Midlands on 10/11/12 May. Venue Location: Best Western Yew Lodge Hotel, Packington Hill, Kegworth, DE74 2DF T: 01509 672518 Places are limited, and we intend to select up to 20 people to share in this opportunity. We will let you know by the end of February, 2019, […]

Unmet Needs: Improper Social Care Assessments for Older People in England  Headline report conclusions “Older people in England are at risk of not getting adequate assistance to live independent, dignified lives due to uneven assessments for social services.” Some said that assessors appeared not even to understand their disabilities and support needs. In other cases, […]

How many of CASCAIDr’s first year’s 200 or so clients were … So, please donate to keep us going into a 2nd year and beyond, by clicking on: DONATE to CASCAIDr What have been the OUTCOMES, for some of CASCAIDr’s most successful clients? Threatened cuts to people’s packages, services or budgets, have been cancelled or […]

A.   Because we are not doing them at the moment / the process is just too complicated and it will take too long “I am sure that councils do not have the legal right to say that it just doesn’t suit them to give money out as a substitute for services. The Care Act says […]

“…And if that’s not enough, well then, we guess that you’ll be withdrawing your request for a direct payment, yes? or else accepting the budget as less than you know is needed via a DP route, as a matter of your own choice…”   Anyone thinking that this is the bit of the Self Help […]

…They hadn’t received the letter at that point, so I gave them a copy to read. They left, after almost 2 hours, agreeing to reinstate J’s support after just leaving it for 3 months Please share:

“The support you have provided has been fantastic, regardless of the outcome. I do not believe I would have even been able to get this meeting arranged and I have learned so much.” Please share:

Many thanks. We managed to persuade them to change their minds ! The various letters from the doctor and mental health made a huge difference, and it was very helpful to have an understanding of the legal background.  I will be passing your details to other individuals/complementary organisations who I think would really benefit from […]

“Clearly [the LGO] has changed the report significantly as a result of the previous feedback. Looks pretty much like we have everything significant found in our favour. Thanks for all your help.” Please share:

“The meetings with the CCG and LA went well, and the fees are under renegotiation – they have accepted many of the proposals you suggested we put forward, and we are now down to discussing the last few points! So far so good…thanks for all your help!” Please share:

People have a right to advocacy – independent funded advocacy – under the Care Act, if they have substantial difficulty with regard to the processes in the Act where councils are required to INVOLVE people before making a decision. So it’s not an absolute right, as such, but a right that flows from a professional […]

It’s almost impossible in England for a council to refuse to assess someone for adult services, without breaching public law duties.  So if someone refuses you the chance to be assessed, this is what to say: I believe that the Care Act imposes a duty on councils to assess people’s needs if there is merely […]

If a council or a CCG says this, they are treading on very thin ice, these days. They’d be thinking that the definition of a personal budget, in legal terms, is the cost to the council of meeting the needs, and inferring from that that no council need offer anyone any more than it would […]

If a council or a CCG says that it is using the cost of a care home locally as a measure of what it should offer, the cost is not an unlawful consideration in and of itself, but it cannot be the ONLY determinant of its care planning function (regardless of whether one’s purchaser is […]

a) … WITHOUT ANY re-view or re-assessment having taken place:  I am certain that it’s not lawful to cut a person’s care package without doing a review, and then a re-assessment using Care Act criteria if a cut is proposed, for whatever reason. I am sure that your senior management team have not meant to […]

CASCAIDr has assisted a woman who was told to move her mother by the end of the week, without any assessment of the impact, once her capital depleted, if there was no top-up, to flag up 11 legal reasons why that was simply indefensible. The council is dealing with the matter, apparently, and the private […]

After grinding away for over 18 months, after CASCAIDr advisers spotted that the Disability Related Expenditure part of the financial assessment was flawed, £1500 of so-called charging debt has been written off, implicitly acknowledging that the man’s spend on technological aids was something that had to be allowed for. Please share:

Under the threat of Judicial Review, on which CASCAIDr assisted, a Council has now agreed to complete a full care and needs assessment of x’s needs, produce a care plan, not make any reductions to her care package pending completion of both, and carry out a review before Xmas…. Please share:

JP was awaiting services for a brain injury for 12 months. His partner/carer complained successfully to the LGO about Care Act delays and omissions. His care manager said that care packages were capped at £700 a week, meaning his partner could not return to work. A few legal letters later from a #CASCAIDr adviser, and […]

A woman receives care at home from nurses funded by CHC from the CCG and a parent. On CHC review, disputed DST domain scores were decided by the Panel itself, and the Rationale was not signed. Her mother was called ‘disrespectful’ when she flagged up the breach of the National Framework! Input from a @CASCAIDr […]

A man’s parents shared his care with a care home but have frequent difficulties re handling of injuries, risks, handover and supervision. He has no written care plan from the CCG but it has been suggested that his parents should sign a ‘communication contract’! Input from a @CASCAIDr adviser flagged up that a CARE Act […]

A care home contracted to a CCG gave a young woman 4 weeks’ notice after caring for her for 9 yrs despite owing art 8 obligations under the Human Rights Act (like all homes with publicly funded clients). She is now being helped to move on to supported living. CASCAIDr’s advice helped prevent eviction and […]

Parent deputies got a £2K bill for 2 yrs jointly funded past respite for this young man. DWP benefits had covered his share of household bills (reimbursed as necessaries) and items that were arguably DRE. Retrospective charging CAN be lawful, in certain case, BUT CASCAIDr flagged up that the agencies’ inability to trace any rationale […]

Devoted parents had ultimately lost the care of this young man over a dispute about £10K charges for earlier care. A previous JR had led to a consent order with no MENTION of charges but the man’s mum was removed as deputy, and safeguarding proceedings were started. CASCAIDr advice was that s2 LGA negated the […]

If someone goes completely blind and then later deaf (it happens) s/he can become completely dependent on technology, human help and courage to get through daily living, although remaining fully mentally capacitated. CASCAIDr has helped a man in that situation challenge his council for not reviewing his needs since the Care Act (2015); not providing […]

A man living in Shared Lives accommodation but his carers suddenly needed him to move on, in view of the severe illness of one of the couple. He’d also been excluded from a local day opportunity because he was unsettled, and the council needed to be galvanised. CASCAIDr’s advice to the man’s mother led her […]

A woman has 24hr care in her home as a tenant, in a care package not reviewed for YEARS. The council had agreed ages ago in writing not to change her package without her consent, but wanted to re-assess now and use ‘Just Checking’ to record movement at home. CASCAIDr’s advice has secured acknowledgement of […]

A parent with a severely disabled adult daughter found everyone agreed that the council’s arrangements weren’t working – but nobody seemed to be doing anything about it. The parent was sent hither and thither to look at hopelessly inadequately provisioned settings and told No, regarding a placement that WAS apparently suitable – with no other […]

After advocates’ support, the council was persuaded to use its discretion to take out deputyship and appointeeship as appropriate services to meet needs – they were facilities or support for Care Act purposes, to meet needs related to maintaining a habitable home. Return to main CASCAIDr homepage   Please share:

A charitable care provider is told that the council will put in a roving 2 man team for waking night observations for their clients, if the provider won’t drop the fee; the provider is delighted as it had not been getting paid properly for the night time service anyway, so said to the council that […]

An elderly man with capital now below the threshold for a financial subsidy and commisisoning from the council is told that his relatives will have to pay a top up if he wants to stay in the home that he originally chose when self funding. After all other attempts at referring the council to the […]

A young woman’s parents were told that she could only have a service if she moved out of their home into a shared care setting. After her human rights were mentioned, and the Perry Clarke case was referred to, the council accepted that it wasn’t possible to make their help conditional upon the client moving […]

A long-standing client with learning disabilities was suddenly found ineligible at the first post-Care Act re-assessment because assessor had looked at her needs after the support she was already getting from direct payments funded carers, and didn’t bother asking about a couple of listed outcomes at all. A pre-action protocol letter from a solicitor to […]

An exhausted carer asked a council for a carer’s assessment and was found eligible – but offered only a small sum of money as the Take it or Leave it Response. He wanted a service, not extra money. He wanted some help with the cleaning, and didn’t want to employ or supervise a cleaner. After […]