really p***ed off..

mark richards

mark richards

Suspended / Banned
Messages
5,429
Name
mark
Edit My Images
Yes
we have two disabled kids, which are ours, my daughter is 22 and cannot speak , and only communicates in her own way, she needs constant care, and is a bloody handful, into everything , me and the wife never go anywhere , only with our children, and we do everything together.
our daughter goes to a daycare centre and leaves the house at 8 in the morning and arrives home about 4.
our son is 19 and visually impaired, he can just about make out his surroundings , but totally relies on some-one, when out of his usual surroundings,he gets very nervous in unfamiliar surroundings..
now the problem, he has just left school at 19, and has a place in a technical collage to carry on learning life-skills , which will make him more dependant in life.
but we have been informed, that he will get no transport from the house, that it is up to the family to make these arrangements the collage is 12 miles from home, so a round trip of 48 miles per day, plus two hours of our time, he cannot use public transport for obvious reasons.
bare in mind that our daughters bus picks her up at our house and passes the collage that he uses , the collage has even said that if he gets a lift to the school then some-one would meet him there and walk him to the collage,which backs onto the school grounds.
the council will not pay for the transport because of so called cutbacks, so we got to suffer for this..
we asked the minibus company for a price to send our son on same bus as our daughter £40 a-day , what a f*****g joke, if we apply for a grant for his transport ,then we will get 22p per mile.
I am determined not to give in to them, but where do i go from here, don't go down the social-workers route , they are a waste of space and time, so looks like our local councillor ?
also our daughter gets home before our son, so there needs to be someone in the house for her, when someone picks her up.
any help in this matter would be appreciated..
 
I'm assuming your children receive the higher rate of Motability allowance, could always use the £57 a week of the allowance to get a car on the Motability scheme for one child losing £57 a week, the savings on having an economical car may help although not help with giving you more time, just making it more comfortable.
 
As much adverse publicity as you can drum up, social media is a powerful tool these days, contact your MP and local papers also like this type of story.

I worked in public relations for a multinational company and know just how much influence the above channels can muster

Good luck, my first target would be the minibus company, small business would likely be the most vulnerable
 
tijuana taxi said:
Good luck, my first target would be the minibus company, small business would likely be the most vulnerable
Click to expand...

And ruin a company?
Councillor, MP and media.
My nephew got door to door 19 mile each way taxis to school, and he was just an idle, troublemaking little scrote.
 
Have you asked a local taxi firm how much a regular fare would be? If one is on the way to the other then they could take both of them together in the morning.
 
And ruin a company?
Click to expand...

Wouldn't get that far, just need to apply some pressure, make them see sense and be a bit less greedy.



,
 
Last edited:
tijuana taxi said:
Wouldn't get that far, just need to apply some pressure, make them see sense and be a bit less greedy.

,
Click to expand...
By apply pressure, do you mean threaten escalation?
 
mark richards said:
I am determined not to give in to them, but where do i go from here, don't go down the social-workers route , they are a waste of space and time
Click to expand...
Has your son ever been referred and assessed for an assessment of needs?
Have you ever been referred and assessed for an assessment of your needs as a carer?

Do not write-off social services. I've done some work with them in the past on analysing social care services and the process of referral and assessment. One thing you will need is patience and persistence, they are forced to work within a tight framework and must follow certain rules and like most public services are constrained by management directives and spending cut-backs. But they can't escape statutory duties, and that's where patience and persistence are required. Understand that any delays/setbacks are unlikely to be the social workers fault and just keep on asking until you wear them down.

Words in bold in the steps below are the specific terms that were in use a couple of years ago when I was last involved in this, they may have changed but keep an ear out for them.
  1. First off, you need a Referral to social services, probably the Adult Social Care Team but the terminology varies. Try and get two - get your GP to refer to social services for a care assessment and see if the college can do the same. You can refer yourself, but it is better if it comes from your GP.
  2. Secondly, you need the Assessment of Needs. There are national guidelines on the time they have between the referral and the assessment.
  3. The outcome of the assessment is a determination of any Package of Care to which you're entitled. Odds are you may not be happy with the first determination, there will be routes of appeal. Deal with that when you get that far
Between steps 1 and 2 the target was 48hrs, but don't hold your breath as the average also includes acute emergency assessments.


See http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/social-care-and-support-guide/pages/assessment-care-needs.aspx

Note, in the NHS guide you need two outcomes that aren't being met. The obvious one is "accessing and engaging in work, training, education or volunteering, including physical access" and I would see an argument for using "being able to develop and maintain family or other personal relationships, in order to avoid loneliness or isolation" as the second.
 
Last edited:
By apply pressure, do you mean threaten escalation?
Click to expand...

I would ask them again for a quote mentioning that I was considering sharing the story with various media outlets
 
Coming to an agreement is a better description, we obviously have a different view on how to deal with opportunistic people.
 
thanks all for your comments, we do get the higher rate of Motability allowance, for our daughter only, not my son, the mobility car is for her use, a regular fair is approximately £9 one way so not a easy option, and why should we pay this fee ourselves,
thanks Alistair, will look into this, the social workers that we have had dealings with are not that very helpful.
 
tijuana taxi said:
Coming to an agreement is a better description, we obviously have a different view on how to deal with opportunistic people.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but asking for something, whilst threatening a run to the red tops for your own gain would be seen as blackmail. It's not a matter of view.

You're just suggesting going for the smallest, most exposed link in the chain, rather than those who should be held accountable.
 
mark richards said:
thanks all for your comments, we do get the higher rate of Motability allowance, for our daughter only, not my son, the mobility car is for her use, a regular fair is approximately £9 one way so not a easy option, and why should we pay this fee ourselves,
thanks Alistair, will look into this, the social workers that we have had dealings with are not that very helpful.
Click to expand...

Good luck with it, Mark.
 
approach your Council again

when I was taxiing we had a large number of school runs 'paid for'

you may need a adult to accomany them
we used 'at-home' mothers --- about £5/hour I recall
 
tijuana taxi said:
Coming to an agreement is a better description, we obviously have a different view on how to deal with opportunistic people.
Click to expand...

Do you know what their overheads are?
I am unemployed, but when the DWP tries to get me to do "voluntary" work, and then threaten to stop my benefits because I refuse, then I regard that as blackmail.
I will not work for nothing, so why would you expect a small company to work for a loss?
 
So IF they have an empty seat are you saying they have to charge 200 quid a week for it?

How much nicer to help someone out whilst still making some money and it no way relates to getting unemployed people working for nothing.

Besides that why not do some voluntary work of your own volition, I'm surprised the DWP aren't more interested in you spending your time looking for work
 
andy700 said:
Do you know what their overheads are?
I am unemployed, but when the DWP tries to get me to do "voluntary" work, and then threaten to stop my benefits because I refuse, then I regard that as blackmail.
I will not work for nothing, so why would you expect a small company to work for a loss?
Click to expand...
Maybe They should stop your benefits if you refuse.
You never know, voluntary work may lead to a job....
 
Last edited:
Going back to the social work issue - just with any government funded service, they are limited with time and money and staff. A very close friend of mine who recently died worked in social services and the cuts were horrendous; she couldn't sleep at night. She worked with the elderly so I can't imagine it is any different in other sectors. So be persistent. Regarding the mini bus company, I wouldn't go after them in that way. You never know when you might need them in the future, especially if you can get some funding. Perhaps also go to the CAB and see if someone there can help you navigate this situation.
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
Maybe They should stop your benefits if you refuse.
You never know, voluntary work may lead to a job....
Click to expand...


You know what, maybe they should pay money for doing a job, and not expect people to work for nothing - what a novel idea.
Do you know what the word "voluntary" means?
tijuana taxi said:
So IF they have an empty seat are you saying they have to charge 200 quid a week for it?

How much nicer to help someone out whilst still making some money and it no way relates to getting unemployed people working for nothing.

Besides that why not do some voluntary work of your own volition, I'm surprised the DWP aren't more interested in you spending your time looking for work
Click to expand...


I don't think anyone is saying that.
As for doing voluntary work of my own volition, I was forced to do that for decades in my career - it was called unpaid overtime.
 
I don't think anyone is saying that
Click to expand...

The minibus company are, they quoted 40 quid a day


As for doing voluntary work of my own volition, I was forced to do that for decades in my career - it was called unpaid overtime.
Click to expand...

So what are you doing for seven or eight hours every day, posting on here?

Before you ask, yes I can because I took early retirement after nigh on 40 years at work
 
Last edited:
There is something seriously f***ed up in the systems, personally I don't belief in the entitlement on 'why do I have to pay for this', I mean why do I have to for this? However when I witnessed that when my family moved house in the same town they then got a taxi from the council to get their perfectly able child to go to school I thought wtf! It was their choice to move, I would have declined out of principle, but then again I can't blame them for taking it when it gets given to you. However hearing your story then, and from what has been shared on here, I'm going WTF how come one can't get it and the other doesn't?

I'm luckily no expert in these matter, but something at local government level seems to be really mixed up. Or is it perhaps because the son is 19 and no longer a minor? I would love it when all students get free public transport in the UK. I had that in the Netherlands and it makes a big difference.
 
what really gets to me ,is that me and my better half, have never milked the system, i worked until my daughter was sixteen , then couldn't cope with work and stress of the kids health ,dont think that there was many weeks that we didnt have hospital appointment's. we don't know how the system works, and the social workers will not tell you what you are entitled to, its up to yourself to find out, due to this we have missed out on many things like holidays for the children ,which if you knew where to look, are available, and government funded..
we have dedicated all our time to our children , and I don't think that it is fair to us, to keep being penalised for having disabled kids..
 
I had a friend approximately twenty years ago who specialised in giving advice on what benefits were available, he worked for the then DHSS three days a week and freelance for another two
Might be worth seeing if something similar exists these days, bit like a financial advisor for welfare and benefits and good luck with your efforts
 
The other thought I've had is, have you contacted the RNIB or any other support groups for the conditions your children have?

They can be very useful, both for advising you what you should be entitled to and introducing you to families that have gone through the system and can tell you how they went about getting what they were entitled to.

The government puts Local Authorities in a really bad position with Social Care. The Local Authority has duties to provide certain levels of care, but the funding is fixed based upon out-of-date data on the population make-up and incidence of various conditions. The LA doesn't get any extra funding when it finds someone that needs care, they just have to stretch what they've got further. This means they have very few methods of controlling their budget in times when central funding is being cut and there are local and national political pressures to not increase Council Tax and make up the short fall. The only Social Services budget that isn't being cut is pensions, which are triple-locked (pensioners are by and large predictable voters that turnout for ballots)and that's administered through central government not the LAs.

The only strategies available for controlling social care budgets are to Deny that your entitled to a service, then Deny that the service you need is funded and then Delay implementation of the service. It's a charade they have to go through and it's where preparation and persistence pay off. Know what you might be entitled to (preparation) and keep asking for it (persistence). Remember, it is not the fault of the person in front of you.

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/where-to-get-help-and-advice-about-benefits
 
mark richards said:
thanks Alastair, much appreciated, but it does get you down, and they do grind you down.
thats what they try to do to you,and they are good at it...
Click to expand...
I've seen it from the other end, and being put in this position wears the social workers down too (seemed to be an above average divorce rate in the room). It's not the sort of job you naturally gravitate towards if you're naturally born a b'tard.

Oh, and pick your day wisely to make contact. Avoid expecting 100% attention on a Monday or on a Friday afternoon. Most crises happen over the weekend and need to be dealt with on Monday, and a lot of those in truly desperate need suddenly can't face another weekend come Friday afternoon. I think every Friday I was working there I saw the crisis kit* getting ready going out to someone or other. mostly women not facing another weekend with an abusive husband.


* folding camp bed(s), sleeping bag(s), a couple of pans and a box of tinned staples. Just enough to make an otherwise unfurnished flat liveable for a weekend.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top