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Ministers have been warned that their lengthy delay in publishing guidance to help disabled people who use direct payments survive the coronavirus pandemic is risking lives across the country… and will not be forgotten. The Department of Health and Social Care […]
The government has failed to publish guidance to help disabled people survive the coronavirus pandemic if they use direct payments to employ personal assistants (PAs), nearly two weeks after ministers provided advice for the wider social care sector. It is now […]
The government is facing accusations that its emergency planning for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic has “abandoned” disabled people who use direct payments to employ their own personal assistants (PAs). Although the government finally produced guidance for the social care sector […]
Rates of pay for personal assistants (PAs) are so low that local authorities could be in breach of their legal duties to families with disabled children, according to new research by Leeds University. Results of a survey of families found the […]
The government wants to increase the number of people who use personal health budgets (PHBs) to choose their own health and social care support from 40,000 to as many as 200,000 over the next five years. It has approved extending legal […]
A local authority has employed the outsourcing giant Capita to clear a backlog of annual reviews of its service-users’ care packages, in an apparent attempt to cut costs and help fill a hole in its budget. The “pilot project” has so […]
A leading disabled academic has urged MPs to dismiss the conclusions of the public spending watchdog and accept instead that the government’s strategy on social care personal budgets is “fundamentally flawed”. Peter Beresford, professor of citizen participation at the University of […]
Three disabled people are taking legal action against a council that has banned them and other service-users from continuing to use a disabled people’s organisation (DPO) to support them with managing their care packages. It is believed to be the first […]
Nearly half of disabled people receiving care and support from their local authority say their quality of life has fallen in the last year, despite major new legislation designed to boost their well-being, choice and control. The survey of 399 disabled […]
A local disabled people’s organisation (DPO) has succeeded in fending off a national charity that was trying to use its financial might to take over a contract to provide support to users of direct payments. The future of Real in Tower […]