What exactly is going on in Bristol?
In ‘Clustered Injustice’ I refer to one of the key insights gained from working on the Cerebra research programme with disabled children and their families. It may be obvious to…
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Category: what’s-new
FII (Fabricated or Induced Illness) Survey
The disabled children’s charity Cerebra is concerned about reports from families with disabled children which suggest that a significant number have been accused by practitioners of creating or exaggerating their…
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New NHS Continuing Healthcare Framework
The Department of Health and Social Care has published a revised NHS Continuing Healthcare Framework – a copy of which can be accessed by clicking here. A handout of a…
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At last – something sensible on FII
Allegations by professionals that families are guilty of FII (Fabricated or Induced Illness) appear to be proliferating as do training programmes that seek to alert social care and health professionals…
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No more than ‘reasonably practicable’
Councils do not have to charge for care and support services under the Care Act 2014, but if they do the Statutory Guidance states (para 8.2) that in determining…
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Government concedes carers’ hospital discharge rights
An earlier posting referred to Baroness Pitkeathley’s amendment to the Health and Care Bill which – although opposed by the Government – was passed in the House of Lords by…
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Direct payments and disabled children with the ‘wrong impairments’.
A parent complained that a local authority commissioned ‘Early Help’ service (for ‘short break’ sessions) was unsuitable for her son. She complained that the Council had offered no alternative and…
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Carers victory in the Lords
The Health and Care Bill currently going through Parliament repeals the Community Care (Delayed Discharges etc.) Act 2003 and with it, the duty on NHS trusts to ensure that…
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Coroner criticises ‘Working Together 2018’
A further report by Richard Travers, the Senior Coroner for Surrey has been published concerning the death of Oskar Miles Nash. The report focuses on action that is necessary to…
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Holidays and Poor Law Commissioners
R (RG) v Suffolk County Council[1]. On one level this case concerns the extent to which a council’s ability to promote an individual’s well-being (under section 1 Care Act 2014)…
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It is time to recognise the unpaid carer as a worker
The guest post you are about to read from a good colleague considers one of the greatest issues confronting the care system in the UK – namely the need for…
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What a mess – s117 ordinary residence (again)
In a nutshell – and congratulations if you understand this: The Court of Appeal has reversed a High Court decision that reversed a decision of the Department of Health and…
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Blamed and criticised for her parenting
Seven years after he was adopted (as an infant) a child was diagnosed as having an alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder, autism and ADHD. His adoptive mother made multiple requests to the…
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Parent Carer Blame webinar materials
On the 8th December 2021 Cerebra hosted a webinar that provided an overview of the 2021 Cerebra Legal Entitlements and Problem-Solving (LEaP) research report. The report describes how local authority…
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Webinar: Wednesday December 8th: 10am
Parent Carer Blame: bringing about meaningful change. A 90 minute, free webinar that provides: (1) an overview of 2021 Research report that describes how local authority policies create a culture…
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A High Octane Conflict
A very welcome judgment of the High Court concerning a ‘high octane conflict’ between the parents of a profoundly disabled 12 year old boy and the professionals involved in his…
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‘Autism Plus’ policies
In 2020 the Cerebra Legal Entitlements and Problem-solving (LEaP) programme together with the Disability Law Service published research ( generally referred to as the 'Autism Plus Report') which highlighted the…
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Parent carer blame with added stereotyping
On the 2nd September BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour[1] featured the recent Cerebra research report ‘Institutionalising Parent Carer Blame’.[2] The programme included compelling accounts from parents of disabled children who…
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Institutionalising Parent-carer Blame
Disabled children and their families are one of the most severely disadvantaged groups in the UK. A major research report published today (21 July 2021) finds that most English Children’s…
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An expression of righteous anger might sometimes not be amiss?
In 2019 the ombudsman published a report[1] which criticised a council for its decision to (among other things) reduce a disabled person’s care and support plan without a proper assessment…
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Parent Carer’s Needs Assessments
Some local authorities appear to think that they have no duty to provide support for a family as a result of a Parent Carer’s Needs Assessments (PCNA) – with statements…
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An unpaid carer’s life: a cri de cœur
The guest post you are about to read from a good colleague builds on an earlier posting which also concerns an incredibly troubling account of the health system’s approach to…
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The Health & Social Care Integration White Paper and Carers
John Bangs OBE and Luke Clements[1] . The Health and Care Bill, announced in the Queen’s Speech is intended to provide the basis for closer health and social care integration…
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Carers and the Health and Care Bill
Reaction to the White Paper on NHS reform has been lukewarm with many key players pointing out that restructuring an endlessly restructured NHS will not in itself address its critical…
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NHS Ombudsman news and a Fast-track decision
The reports of the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman are now being published – click here to access the relevant page. This is good news. The Local Government and Social…
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Housing adaptations and disabled young people
Foundations – the National Body for Home Improvement Agencies in England has published an excellent Guide to Adaptations for Children and Young People with Behaviours that Challenge. The 45-page guide…
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Section 117 & Ordinary Residence ~ All change yet again
R (Worcestershire CC) v Department of Health and Social Care and Swindon Borough Council [2021] EWHC 682 (Admin). Put simply – put very simply – the High Court has decided…
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Charging, strategic litigation and the Norfolk judgment
The Local Government Association (LGA) has published a copy of a letter sent by the Centre for Adult Social Care Advice, Information and Dispute Resolution (CASCAIDr) to all English…
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NHS Continuing Health Care (CHC) judgment
An interesting and novel case where a local authority brought a private law claim against a Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to recover sums it had paid for the costs of…
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High Court Social Care Charging judgment
Proceedings taken on behalf of a 24 year old disabled person with Down Syndrome, challenging the way the council calculated the charges she had to pay for her social care…
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It’s definitely not autism it’s …
The guest post you are about to read is written by Julia Carter, Tracy Moon and Tracey Harrison. It is a powerful example of an issue that we (the Cerebra…
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Disabled children’s assessments
Two new on-line webinars / lectures, both concerning disabled children’s assessments: Assessing the support needs of disabled children and their families The first is a detailed explanation of the process…
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Revised NHS ‘Who Pays?’ Guidance
NHS England has published its updated guidance for establishing which NHS organisation has responsibility for commissioning an individual’s care and which has responsibility for paying for that care. The guidance…
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We only met two minutes ago but you already think you know everything about me.
The guest post you are about to read from a good colleague details an incredibly troubling account of the health system’s approach to the care of a very distressed and…
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Public Accounts Committee Report
The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee has published its report Readying the NHS and social care for the COVID-19 peak The Committee's findings include the following comments concerning adult…
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Unlawful ‘Autism Plus’ policies
More than a quarter of English children’s services councils are acting unlawfully by discriminating against children with autism. Research undertaken by the School of Law at the University of Leeds,…
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Charging for social care campaign
Mike Jones is a retired Finance Director from the private sector and is the Appointee for his sister, Julie (not her real name), who lives in shared accommodation with three…
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NHS Continuing Healthcare & young people: R (JP) v NHS Croydon (2020)
The disregard of the law concerning NHS Continuing Healthcare responsibilities by Health Bodies in England and Wales is hardly news. However, where one is confronted by a disabled child with…
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Delay and the ombudsman: how depressing.
In the last few years the Cerebra Legal Entitlements and Problem Solving (LEaP) Project has had to deal with many cases of delay by councils in England and Wales in…
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Ordinary Residence s117 ~ all change
The Department of Health and Social Care has changed its mind concerning the determination of a person’s ordinary residence for the purposes of section 117 Mental Health Act 1983 –…
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Visual impairment rehabilitation timeframes
Danny Dooney, Legal Rights Officer at the RNIB has provided the following note concerning a recent Ombudsman decision.[1] It found Hammersmith and Fulham LBC was at fault for failing to…
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Coronavirus and direct payments
Interesting update guidance from the Department of Health and Social Care concerning the ‘Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: people receiving direct payments’. My good colleague Steve Brett has flagged up this…
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Urgent care
R (Ali Raja and Ali Hussain) v. Redbridge LBC [2020] EWHC 1456 (Admin). An important case concerning the power in the Care Act 2014 s19(3) that enables a council, in…
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Home care charges – the injustice continues
The severe impact of local authority home care charges is an overlooked injustice faced by large numbers of disabled people in England. The hardship caused by these charges has been…
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The suspension of care home inspections
For an excellent paper by Alison Tarrant and Lydia Hayes concerning the suspension of routine inspections which they argue renders care homes invisible to scrutiny and costs lives – click…
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Magic wands, misdirection and shock
Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine may have its critics – but it is difficult not to think about it, at times like this. Her central argument is that governments use national…
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Undermining children’s safeguarding duties
Major changes to the law concerning the protection of looked after children (among other things) have been brought into effect via the Adoption and Children (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020. Article…
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Social Justice another coronavirus casualty
What do you do if a local authority or NHS body decides to stop processing all complaints – even complaints which relate to matters of life and death or another…
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Coronavirus: Direct Payments & Personal Health Budgets
Some welcome guidance from the Department of Health and Social Care concerning local authority and NHS decisions about permissible use of Direct Payment and Personal Health Budgets during the emergency.…
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Coronavirus update
More Chinese whispers and some guidance concerning disabled children and their families. Chinese whispers first. In a recent post I referred to emails from Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) saying that…
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