“It’s been a long, hard, stressful, anxious and frustrating time for us all. Without your professional knowledge and genuine human kindness due to the passion you have for helping and genuinely caring for people like me, we would of had no choice but to give up fighting, a long time ago.
It’s down to you and you alone that I now have a fighting chance of ensuring justice prevails. I really hope our complaint is upheld by the LGSCO not just for myself, but for the many others who are in the same situation as me. This proves there is at least a ray of hope!”
“Please do not apologise for your request that we consider a donation.We’ve already agreed that we needed to do this in the light of your amazing support. Having heard you speak (which served to reconnect me as a social worker to stuff that I hadn’t realised I had lost sight of) I am convinced of the need to make sure that CASCAIDr is out there holding Local Authorities to account when the pressures of austerity tempt them to forget both the letter and the spirit of the Care Act. We will follow the link and get that done, with our sincere thanks.”
“Thank you so much for your detailed email. I’m going to write a letter to social services. You’ve given me the strength to put some commitment into sorting this out. Thank you so much for your very detailed long response. That must have taken so much of your time to do. I’m going to donate some money to your extremely vital legal organisation – for people such as myself you’re an affordable lifeline.”
“Thanks so much for your frank reply. You are quite right that I could well have an axe to grind. I feel that I am keeping my sister’s best interests at heart and her husband is not; he has his own agenda – but how are you to know that, just because I say that’s how it is? I do appreciate how straight you are. It is all very sad. Of course I will make a donation. Your advice is great.”
“When we sent the letter that CASCAIDr had put together, we did get a response from the Council. It helped to show them that the points we were making about R were valid, and made a case for R to attend the education trust for an additional two days. The council is now funding two days and R is funding a third. His day care place elsewhere on a Friday is also funded now. This arrangement is likely to continue until he is at least 25. It would have been highly detrimental for him to be left unoccupied for most of the week as had been the case for most of last year. This put his progress back for a time that he is only now regaining. He now enjoys living at his supported living for the most part – he has a friend there who looks out for him. Thank both of you for helping with the letter that seems to have had a positive effect for R. I enjoyed my conversations with your caseworker and it made all the difference to have someone who was prepared to listen to us after the negativity we’d had from Social Services.”
“[After support with an LGO complaint about charging and disability related expenditure] Here is the wonderful result so far. It is still in draft and the final decision by Ombudsman will be published soon, but I could not wait to share the news with you. I trust your knowledge and all this would not have been possible without your precious input. I would like you to make it public through your charity It is important for other parents to understand the technicality of the deductions due to DRE: so important and so hidden away, that most parents I talked to did not even know the existence of this possibility to reduce the contribution to the Council.”
“A small win (but with big individual impact) was when a Social Worker delegate decided not to close a case, which was what was going to happen before the course! The Social Worker has said that there is much more to explore and nuances that need to be considered – I think they meant fluctuating needs. There will certainly be a ripple effect across Social Work teams following the course. I think this will lead to more effective ways of assessing and detailed rationales around decision-making.”
“What you deliver has a real impact on systems change (cultural change) – a difficult metric to measure sometimes. This also means it will have a direct impact on people’s lives (service users and professionals). It truly was an awesome three days of learning. As a city, we are eternally grateful for the knowledge that you have so eloquently imparted”
“This is the time to get things sorted once and for all. I now feel I have the confidence and knowledge to discuss J’s rights with social care. Thanks for empowering us both.”
“I’m so grateful for your response it really does help to be put in the picture from a legal point of view.
I absolutely see myself as fighting not just for myself but for other people that are struggling to make ends meet and not have this life destroy them physically and mentally.”
Please share:
Access to the Free Database of case law, legislation, and overviews
Beth’s parents were never seen as partners in the care of their daughter and over time have moved to a combative position as a consequence of lack of involvement, acknowledgement and voice. The lack of diagnosis for Beth, meaningful intervention and management set Beth on a pathway that was foreseen as poor and ended inevitably […]
… is a fantastic judgment from the Court of Appeal (announced 3 October 2019) about the parallel statutory duties owed by a local authority under the Care Act 2014 and the Children and Families Act 2014, and the overlapping Tribunal and JR routes to a remedy for breach of these Acts. Fundamentally, the Court held […]
The First-tier Tribunal has ruled in favour of the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) decision to refuse an application submitted by Lifeways Community Care (Lifeways) to vary a condition of its registration as a care home provider. Lifeways (a care provider looking after people with complex care needs, including those with a learning disability, autism and […]
This case concerned the application of one of the criteria for Personal Independence Payment: ‘Engaging with other people face to face’, a type of need that occurs most commonly amongst those with mental health needs and/or neurodevelopmental conditions (such as Autism). The two central issues were: (1) What “social support” means and how it differs […]
Having taken some time off from managing the flood of referrals received weekly about dodgy practice in adults’ social work, to read Mr Feldon’s article, in Community Care, my jaw dropped. It doesn’t feel as if nobody’s complaining, HERE! However, on a more careful reading, it may just be that it’d been inappropriately edited with […]
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 […]
This post is for flagging up that there is a much easier way of challenging a local authority’s actions or decisions, policies or practices, than complaining, and it’s not widely publicised. The people responsible for managing this system don’t even agree about its scope, but that doesn’t mean that the words in the statute don’t […]
…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:
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 […]
“It’s been a long, hard, stressful, anxious and frustrating time for us all. Without your professional knowledge and genuine human kindness due to the passion you have for helping and genuinely caring for people like me, we would of had no choice but to give up fighting, a long time ago. It’s down to you […]
“Please do not apologise for your request that we consider a donation.We’ve already agreed that we needed to do this in the light of your amazing support. Having heard you speak (which served to reconnect me as a social worker to stuff that I hadn’t realised I had lost sight of) I am convinced of the […]
“Thank you so much for your detailed email. I’m going to write a letter to social services. You’ve given me the strength to put some commitment into sorting this out. Thank you so much for your very detailed long response. That must have taken so much of your time to do. I’m going to donate some money […]
“Thanks so much for your frank reply. You are quite right that I could well have an axe to grind. I feel that I am keeping my sister’s best interests at heart and her husband is not; he has his own agenda – but how are you to know that, just because I say that’s […]
“When we sent the letter that CASCAIDr had put together, we did get a response from the Council. It helped to show them that the points we were making about R were valid, and made a case for R to attend the education trust for an additional two days. The council is now funding two […]
“[After support with an LGO complaint about charging and disability related expenditure] Here is the wonderful result so far. It is still in draft and the final decision by Ombudsman will be published soon, but I could not wait to share the news with you. I trust your knowledge and all this would not have been […]
“A small win (but with big individual impact) was when a Social Worker delegate decided not to close a case, which was what was going to happen before the course! The Social Worker has said that there is much more to explore and nuances that need to be considered – I think they meant fluctuating […]
“What you deliver has a real impact on systems change (cultural change) – a difficult metric to measure sometimes. This also means it will have a direct impact on people’s lives (service users and professionals). It truly was an awesome three days of learning. As a city, we are eternally grateful for the knowledge that you […]
“This is the time to get things sorted once and for all. I now feel I have the confidence and knowledge to discuss J’s rights with social care. Thanks for empowering us both.” Please share:
“I’m so grateful for your response it really does help to be put in the picture from a legal point of view. I absolutely see myself as fighting not just for myself but for other people that are struggling to make ends meet and not have this life destroy them physically and mentally.” Please share:
“We have known Belinda Schwehr for a number of years and have always found her advice and that of CASCAIDr invaluable. The support and advice from CASCAIDr has been particularly useful for people in receipt of statutory funding (and their families) who find themselves in a situation where their statutory funding is in danger of […]
“After nearly 18 months of trying to get Adult Social Care to communicate with us regarding my brothers direct payment we enlisted the help of CASCAIDr. The case, although complex, was settled without the need of legal proceedings and we were extremely pleased with the work and support of the charity.” Please share:
“If I had to use one word to express what Cascaidr does, it would be ‘reassure’. Reassure one has not ‘lost the plot’ – the law is the law. Reassure one feeling (well, loads actually!) that the law is being ignored is justified. Reassure one can do something about it and with Cascaidr’s support, in the end, the law is […]
“A county council attempted to reduce my learning disabled brother’s care package of five hours per day to three hours, without making a proper assessment of his needs, which had not changed for some years. CASCAIDr were fantastic in helping me draft letters with the relevant legal vocabulary, including references to the Care Act and […]
“Thank you for you very comprehensive reply. The heavily subjective nature of the CHC assessment process I find extremely frustrating. I’ve read a lot online about CHC in the last two years, but still I do not understand what constitutes the legal limit of Social Services! Your reply has helped confirm the government has succeeded […]
“Thank you so much for your extensive reply. It is much appreciated. There have been many charities I’ve contacted and many don’t want to know. My uncle is a complex case and different to many, as he does have mental capacity. Many organisations are simply not interested. I thank you deeply for taking the time to […]
“I cannot give enough praise to CASCAIDr! They took a very unjust situation and made it all better! We were handed an ultimatum to make a direct payment of £900.00 to a private ambulance firm or my father would not be discharged from hospital and transported to the waiting care home out of area. I […]
“The support and advice from CASCAIDr has been particularly useful for people in receipt of statutory funding (and their families) who find themselves in a situation cuts are hinted at, or excessive commissioning pressures are mounting. The current political and economic climate is a tough one but CASCAIDr reminds us all that the rights of […]
“Thank you for your advice about encouraging us to ensure that the council’s care planners and their care providers are aware of our adult daughter’s obvious inability to understand the consequences of SOME of her less desirable, apparent choices, We can see immediately how this advice serves our daughter’s needs and our responsibilities toward her. We should have asked […]
“We had help over several months from CASCAIDr which was very supportive and helpful in dealing with a reluctant social services council. With their help and expertise we got the support we were asking for – so we moved from no help to what we wanted. This has been a great relief and we appreciate the legal […]
“I am very grateful for the support and advice given to me by CASCAIDr in my fight to keep a traditional bank account for my direct payment, when the Council tried to force me to have a prepaid card which was unsuitable for my needs. After what felt like a David vs Goliath battle, thanks […]
“As a Local Authority we want to get it right first time for our local citizens but in our improvement journey, this has not always happened, to both our – and some of our citizen’s disappointment. In one complex case CASCAIDr assisted us in our response to the LGO with their independent expertise. The learning […]
“Our family moved on from utter despair to some hope, because of CASCAIDr. The council acted unlawfully and CASCAIDr made them change their minds. No one was prepared to listen until very fortunately for us we were introduced to this charity. Belinda was kind, selfless and expert in Adult Social Care law and her efficiency […]
“I am immensely grateful for all the help you have given me to try to secure a transparent, coherent, rational and lawful assessment of my daughter’s care needs. With your help we were absolutely delighted to be awarded compensation from the LA for previous botched assessments. It makes all the difference to know that CASCAIDr are there […]
“Councils are very strapped for cash at present and often act illegally or unreasonably in trying to cut Direct Payment budgets. This happened in my daughter’s case. CASCAIDr were great in providing help and ammunition to challenge the Council. By the time I consulted CASCAIDr I had in fact already put the matter in the […]
“Like many other parent carers, we cannot bear to think of what life would be like at present without your legal advice – our local LA intended to not only slash our daughter’s budget, but dictate how and who should manage the budget, with almost immediate effect. We wouldn’t have had the mental or physical strength to continue […]
“CASCAIDr has made me realise that you’re not alone out there, and that local authorities WILL listen to you if you have CASCAIDr’s support and backing. They have helped, and are continuing to help me, to find a suitable home for my brother. I feel so much more optimistic, and really appreciate the ongoing help […]
“I am immensely grateful for all the help you have given me to try to secure a transparent, coherent, rational and lawful assessment of my daughter’s care needs. With your help we were absolutely delighted to be awarded compensation from the LA for previous botched assessments. It makes all the difference to know that CASCAIDr are there […]
Thank you, thank you so much for your detailed and clear guidance. I am extremely grateful for your revision and all the notes regarding my next homework; for now I thank you enormously Please share:
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 […]
“Thank you once again for all your help – I don’t know what we would have done without you – thank you so very much. it really is appreciated.” 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:
“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 […]
“Thank you so much for today, both of you were invaluable in our plight for planning, and for the virtual meeting today. Thank you also for all your notes, too: so helpful.” Please share:
“It’s not actually a bigger personal budget, but the lower charge, brought about through this success on the DRE point, gives me the courage to spend my own money on what I need, to cope with my total blindness and hearing impairment. Not a day goes by when I don’t tell SOMEone about CASCAIDr’s support” […]
“The council agreed to backdate the care costs to July 2016. I’d put in a formal complaint, in the light of your recommendation. So I want to thank you very much indeed for your advice, without which I can’t imagine we’d have got very far. It’s been such a long and stressful haul that I’m […]
“What would I do without you? Many thanks for your help. I particularly liked the way in which you juxtaposed xyz with the council’s position on abc – it brought a smile to my face.” Return to main CASCAIDr homepage Please share:
“Your new Charity is exactly the kind of initiative that that the charity which I Chair, wants to support. Your work in community care law is cutting edge, and the times ahead need you even more. No other lawyer has ever been dedicated enough to such ideals as to write me back about my daughter […]
“The local authority panel wouldn’t agree to funding for a placement with the type of psychological input to care which my daughter desperately needs – they were offering wholly inadequate alternatives. Belinda helped me assert in very clear term that as they’d not carried out the assessment correctly, they weren’t making a defensible judgement on […]
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You can click on the Donate button above or on our right hand side bar, to donate to our cause, core costs and ongoing output. Our Donation Button was the most cost-effective giving site we could find, and that means that we are maximising the proportion of your donation, and putting it to use. It costs just 10p per donation (and 1.4% of the amount goes to the card company.) There are no transaction fees, only a card processing fee. We are advised that if donors added £1 to every £60 they want to donate, they would be covering the card fee and the company’s own processing charge, in any event. So a donation of £61.00 means we receive £75.30 if you can tick the Gift Aid box, or £60.05 if not.
There’s no set amount for a donation. We’re happy with whatever amount a person can afford, even if it’s just £10.00, especially if it can come in a little and often, we’re in it for the long term and need to keep going. We’d really appreciate your sign-up for automated ongoing contributions – monthly is how that works. You will be able to click to do the GiftAid declaration, if you are a taxpayer – as it makes the government pay us an extra 25%.
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If you’re a business with health and social care clients, how about £1 per client per year, as an affordable suggestion? Or £2 a year per client, if you are a private for-profit provider?
Whatever the basis of your business, we’d be just as happy if you took out a Package Deal if you’re a lawfirm, health/social care/support provider, support broker or advocacy organisation. Package Deals are equally tax deductible, because the membership fee means you’re buying actual benefits, and all the money goes into the Charity’s funds.
Just email belindaschwehr@cascaidr.org.uk for a Package Deal invoice, from the Trading Company, if that’s your preferred means of supporting us.
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Major donations really improve the amount of assistance we can provide to those with care and support-related public law legal problems. It could lead to a person receiving advice when no one else is willing and/or able to help.
Your generosity, towards the end of your life, through a legacy, could make a real and lasting positive difference to the lives of many of our typical users and clients.
