eligible care needs

hello all,

does anyone know if an eligible care need being removed from a care plan means anything ? if so what ? decrease in budget ? less support ?

i had a needs assessment a year ago and the council have been slowly killing me off with their nonsense. First they didn't want to do an assessment so it took 3 months for them to get their butts in gear and do one. Which they messed up so badly I complained to the LGO. And that got me nowhere so I said to the council I'll accept what they have written in order to get some budget/support in place. After another delay they calculated a budget which was low low low...but they wanted financial information and made it sound like they needed receipts for everything before anything else could happen. They would not accept my income/outgoings via email so i had to struggle with their forms. In the end though they accepted a bank statement  and didnt look at receipts or even care what I spent my money on.  After 10 months messing around I knew my contribution and thought support planning would start. BUT NO....they decide that my assessment is out of date despite there being NO significant changes to my circumstances or abilities in the year and having been in near constant contact with them they know everything is the same EXCEPT i got a dog a few months ago.

Because I have a dog which I walk in the same field that I was walking alone in before getting her the council have said accessing the community is no longer an eligible need. Basically the council seem to be saying get rid of my dog and walk alone or lose something or another somehow or another. They are also saying because I have a friend that I spend time with once a week at most that I have a social circle....which at most is more like 2 3rds of a triangle ! Its not like we do anything or go anywhere. I can't get anywhere without assistance and he is tired from working all week or too busy catching up with bits and pieces. The council would probably prefer me to spend time doing nothing with someone and it breaks up the week having someone to talk to...but does not seeing this person make a difference to care plan budgets outcomes etc ??

I just wish legal aid and solicitors were an option. There needs to be more access to legal assistance because I seem to have asked a handful of solicitors for help and they are all busy. If anyone knows of any solicitors or how to find one please let me know. I may have emailed them but maybe not. At the moment though the council have had over a year of saying and doing what they want and they aren't held accountable for their decisions......which is doing my head in !!

Parents
  • Hey Muddled1, 

    You may like to contact our Autism Helpline for more advice. You can contact the team via telephone on 0808 800 4104 (Monday to Thursday 10am to 4pm, Friday 9am to 3pm). Or alternatively, should you prefer to send a message, you can do so via their webform:
    https://www.autism.org.uk/services/helplines/main/questions.aspx

    Hope this helps 

    SteveMod 

  • thanks but have been through helpline before and while knowledgeable advisors tried to answer my questions and to offer advice theres no practical help available. there is no access to advocates or solicitors anywhere and no way to force the council to follow the care act etc and do what they are supposed to do..meet eligible needs. The moment they are establised. Not long long after someones situation deteriorates or when they end up in the mad house  OR WORSE. The only advocate I met with traveled from the council offices to my house with the social worker that did my assessment. They are funded by the council so they are NOT independent. They did nothing to help when the assessment wasn't correct and nothing to argue that the budget wouldn't meet my eligible needs. And the budget wouldn't after the first assessment nor will it after the second assessment is finally completed. Especially if LOSING an ELIGIBLE NEED due to having a dog causes it to go down.

    I need to escape 12 hour raves and noise from neighbour friday saturday sunday without anyone knocking on his door and saying your noise may or may not be illegal but it is causing the autistic next door meltdowns that we have called emergencies for a year. And to do that the small budget will at best enable me to get a PA to help with travel problems one day at the weekend. BUT having some help the remainder of the weekend or in the week isn't going to happen. I have suggested soundproofing and requested a community care grant and I have told the council I know they would prefer to ignore the emergencies BUT if they do that and one day my brain falls out of my ears because I am forced to endure noise I cannot endure OR forced to annoy an already annoying neighbour then they are to blame for NOT doing enough to help.

    To date the LGO hasn't been much help with any of this because the council are good at covering up their mistakes and very good at blaming me for delays. And the government hasn't made it easy to find a legal aid solicitor to challenge them or the council. And knowing the autism act/care act makes no difference to anyone without legal qualifications to push the council into acting how they should be. Self advocacy is difficult if not impossible when council money is being fought for.

Reply
  • thanks but have been through helpline before and while knowledgeable advisors tried to answer my questions and to offer advice theres no practical help available. there is no access to advocates or solicitors anywhere and no way to force the council to follow the care act etc and do what they are supposed to do..meet eligible needs. The moment they are establised. Not long long after someones situation deteriorates or when they end up in the mad house  OR WORSE. The only advocate I met with traveled from the council offices to my house with the social worker that did my assessment. They are funded by the council so they are NOT independent. They did nothing to help when the assessment wasn't correct and nothing to argue that the budget wouldn't meet my eligible needs. And the budget wouldn't after the first assessment nor will it after the second assessment is finally completed. Especially if LOSING an ELIGIBLE NEED due to having a dog causes it to go down.

    I need to escape 12 hour raves and noise from neighbour friday saturday sunday without anyone knocking on his door and saying your noise may or may not be illegal but it is causing the autistic next door meltdowns that we have called emergencies for a year. And to do that the small budget will at best enable me to get a PA to help with travel problems one day at the weekend. BUT having some help the remainder of the weekend or in the week isn't going to happen. I have suggested soundproofing and requested a community care grant and I have told the council I know they would prefer to ignore the emergencies BUT if they do that and one day my brain falls out of my ears because I am forced to endure noise I cannot endure OR forced to annoy an already annoying neighbour then they are to blame for NOT doing enough to help.

    To date the LGO hasn't been much help with any of this because the council are good at covering up their mistakes and very good at blaming me for delays. And the government hasn't made it easy to find a legal aid solicitor to challenge them or the council. And knowing the autism act/care act makes no difference to anyone without legal qualifications to push the council into acting how they should be. Self advocacy is difficult if not impossible when council money is being fought for.

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