Named and Shamed Merton Local Authority

It's ridiculous, this time I phoned them up and was told that the person who is supposed to respond to my complaint is on annual leave and will be back next week. They have had almost two months already - this is obviously just another delaying tactic..

and NAS do nothing at all, Mark Lever does nothing, hes too busy rolling around in money to bother with having real objectives... just meetings, discussions, awards and NO ACTION !!!

no it's for myself, I don't have children.

thanks for the advice, as I never heard of them before.

Don't waste your time with complaints to LEA, or government ombudsman, contact civil legal advice line, see if you can get legal aid either in your name, or your child's.

Yes, I have realised this, and seen it with my own eyes too.  Well, of course they are branches of central government so they will always have that as their protection.

Money and power talk, as they say.

Unfortunately the law for organisations and individuals is vastly different. And organisations can afford good lawyers. Most individuals cannot, especially since legal aid was cut back.

It is tragic in the 21st century in a so called-civilised country, that individuals can feel the full weight of the law, but organisations are exempt. For example you fail to tell the taxman about £2 you got for an odd job that didn't go through PAYE and they pursue you. This country loses billions of pounds in company tax fiddles every year and often settles for ridiculous compromises, like only 5% of the witheld tax (not to mention all the backhanders and other lubrication on the deal).

But the other problem is that the law regarding someone in a post depends on how that person's responsibilities are defined. So, for example, if his term of reference say that his knowledge of local circumstances takes precedence, he may be exempt in law for all sorts of malpractice which he can pass off as making the best use of a local situation.

The other problem is that organisations have resort to many loopholes. About four years ago I was asked by some councillors if I would be main signatory for a building society account, used to process funds for good causes such as recreational facilities and shelters for teenagers to use.  A year later I found the account had been changed to different uses being carried on by the cosignatories behind my back, yet I was the one left trying to explain this to the Building Society. How did this come about?

Well Councils have very strict rules about the formation of accounts. There is so much red tape that in order to enable cash flow, councillors need to use a loophole. If they can find a mug/member of the public independent of the council to take on the fund, it is exempt from proceedings. Although I asked for indemnification, and was told it had been put in place, it wasn't.

What I found was that no-one had broken the law. The loophole has been around for years. Councils open all kinds of funds using unsuspecting members of the public as principle fund-holders. So while bank account controls are strict within councils, to stop abuse, they can be entirely avoided by this ruse. I made a massive fuss via my MP and got the fund closed. But many people are still being cauight out by this lopophole, thinking something you do with your local council you can trust. No no no.

I'm afraid the reality is the law of individuals is firm, and sometimes fair. Where the law is a complete and utter ass is with organisations like councils. UK law where councils are concerned, is worthless - a national disgrace.

So my question is, (aimed at the NAS, government and anyone else who wants to answer), why is there this fear of upsetting LAs?  Why does there need to be this softly, softly approach, that appears to be (from what Longman has said), asking for more than we hope to get so that we will at least get something?  Or judging what we have a right to expect as if it's superfluous?

This is not good enough.  Why does there need to be such a fragile approach to this?  If someone only paid 5% of their council tax, the authorities wouldn't say "oh well, we know we asked for 100% but at least we got 5% so that'll do" would they.

They cannot dilute this by absorbing it into an organisation in a way that it gets lost by many individuals passing the buck or ignoring it.

The law is the law.  Being part of the establishment does NOT absolve any body of the requirement to uphold and abide by the law!

And the government cannot treat public bodies as if they are not breaking the law the same as any one person would be treated.

The government needs to start giving out harsh sanctions to those LAs that don't comply in full.  There is NO excuse!

Unfortunately Central Government isn't doing its bit. Without real consequences councils are not going to budge.

I was disappointed the previous review how tame NAS was when I told campaigns what I was getting back, but to be honest I think NAS has to be tactful and accept minimal progress just to be taken seriously at all.

The danger is if you rant at them they just lock you out.

I've just been to a consultation event with a disability group regarding the local plan in my local authority. I pointed out there was scarcely any mention of disability. Oh they said, this is the low level plan, there will be a higher level plan subsequently that will address details like that. I said you are surely not classing disability as just detail, aren't you supposed to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act. Answer - our lawyers have checked everything and we are doing nothing wrong.

And I'm sure that is the case. Most disability legislation is vague and woolly and difficult to enforce. The Autism Act and the Adult Autism Strategy are no exception. Its just NAS hasn't woken up to it yet. And the Push for Action campaign is going nowhere.

I agree with what you are saying.  They are breaking the law - all authorities that behave this way - and my biggest annoyance and disbelief is that no-one is policing the law, no-one is calling them to account, no authorities are being punished/penalised/given sanctions or whatever.  Time drifts on and they just get away with it for longer and longer.  The apathy is stupendous, from central government as well as local government.  There is no respect for the law, no care to be proactive, no thought for people on the spectrum suffering because of their inaction and law breaking.

I asked a direct question of my local head of adult services and she didn't reply.

It isn't about the money, or certainly not all of it, there is no cost in changing attitudes and trying to do the best you can, there is no cost in taking pride in your job in a service,  there is no cost in listening to people.

Update : still no response from Merton apart form an email 2 weeks ago saying that they had untill 11th October to respond to my complaint  - that was probably after the LGO contacted them.

It's all one big JOKE, nobody does anything, nobody cares and nobody is even holding councils that are breaking the law accountable. If I steal something I break the law and get punished, how come they can break the law and nothing gets done ? Do I go to the police and tell them about a crime, afterall a crime is when someone breaks the law ?

I may as well bang my head against a brick wall, this has been going on for a year now and nothing ever happens, nothing gets done, you get ignored and you may as well not even exist.

If you ask me this is all about money - councils know this is going to cost them so are deliberately breaking the law hoping that if many other councils also do nothing then it will be a headache for anyone to get anywhere and also to make it as difficult as they can for any adult with autism to get any help at all.

I am beginning to lose my patience, if Merton council are getting away with breaking the law and the lawmakers do nothing about it then what is the point of having any law ?

Something drastic needs to be done, else this is just going to drag on and on an on with nothing ever happening.

I've been through this with the local authority I was in, until I moved away in December. They actually claimed when NAS produced that map of Council responses a year or so back, that they had appointed a lead officer and set up a partnership board, making them appear one of the most forward thinking councils.

But at the last review all they had was an arrangement on their learning disability partnership board, whereby IF someone with a learning disability also had autism, they'd take the autism into account. On that basis they claimed their procurement officer for learning disability was also an autism procurement officer.

Between those events I had a long and fruitless exchange trying to see if I could get on the autism partnership board, when their argument, that eventually emerged, that they wouldn't let me on their expanded learning disability partnership board UNLESS I was learning disabled!

The fact they got through the last review shows how woolly and meaningless is the whole Autism Act and "Leading Rewarding and Fulfilling Lives" process. I did convey to NAS Campaigns the difficulties I was having but they seemed to have little they could do and were asking me to appreciate the tiny shifts.

In the local authority where I'm currently living, more is happening now, but it was only recently they started. We just have to hope the current review has teeth, and true grit.

The tragedy is the appalling state of local government, and sadly National Government has put the onus for implementation on a system that is outmoded, inept and financially irresponsible. Local Government in this country is a dinosaur.

Hi Paul,

Just wanted to add as a "NAS Ambassador", I'm going through a similar thing but with Bham/Coventry.

Need to take it to the LGO but they don't respond to emails no more just telephone, which can be hit and miss or letter (best to send recorded/special delivery)

Your council may fund local advocacy agency, they used to be funded centrally by Department of Health but this changed in April this year.

This link on their website may help:

http://merton-i.merton.gov.uk/kb5/merton/asch/results.page?category=2&qt=advocacy&term=

Take Care,

urspecial

Sadly your experience is being mirrored across the UK.  Even those authorities that have appointed heads of relevant services are behaving ineffectually and not replying to communications and hold meeting after meeting but then nothing gets actioned.  It's all lip service.

The NAS is doing some things but no organisation should have to campaign to make authorities not break the law!