Archives

BASW Cymru membership survey on the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014

Following its annual conference in June 2017 – The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 – One Year On , BASW Cymru ran a survey to gather the views…

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Support needs of newly formed adoptive families

Sarah Meakins from Cardiff University and her colleagues have recently published a paper in Adoption and Fostering on findings from the Wales Adoption Study.  This paper will be of particular…

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Spring 2018 Newsletter

A draft of the Spring 2018 Newsletter can be accessed by clicking here (especially if you fancy giving it a final proof-read).

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Difficult questions require a ‘plan’: ‘transitions’ as an example.

Robert Graves’ in his autobiography ‘Goodbye to All That’ describes how he, his wife and their small children were in urgent need of a house to rent in Oxfordshire –…

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Cerebra Chair of Trustees

Cerebra is looking for a new Chair of Trustees.  For details click here.

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Autistic children and care assessments

A ‘What’s New’ post contributed by Priya Bahri of the Disability Law Service. Autistic children and care assessments – the problem of local authority eligibility criteria’s. Background.  The Disability Law…

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NHS Continuing Care Young People in Wales

A previous Rhydian posting flagged up profound deficiencies in the Welsh Government’s NHS Continuing Care (CHC) guidance for children and young people.  This posting has now been developed into a…

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World Parkinson’s Awareness Day

A good friend of mine has Parkinson’s and I think we all need to better understand the impact of this relentless disease – especially to ensure we do mistake the…

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Disabled Facilities Grants and Young People in Wales

The enactment of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 has raised challenging questions about the procedure by which Welsh local authorities process ‘disabled facilities grants’ (DFGs).  A paper…

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Opinion Piece

The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 came into force two years ago.  To mark the anniversary Keith Bowen has written an Opinion Piece for The Rhydian: On-line Journal…

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52% of carers refused flexible working

A ‘What’s New’ post contributed by David Laurence of the Disability Law Service. Disabled people are entitled to have reasonable adjustments made in their workplace conditions in order to ensure…

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Leeds School of Law new course & new posts

A new LLM in Law & Social Justice LLM - click here for details. Posts being advertise in the field of family, child, labour, housing, health care law and legal…

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Child protection criticism and concerns in Wales

For a case review on a key child protection judgment (in which it was stated ‘All is not well with child protection in North Wales’) and a link to a…

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Parliamentary Review of Health and Social Care in Wales

The final report of the Parliamentary Review of Health and Social Care in Wales has been published. Click here for further details.

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NHS continuing care funding for children & young people in Wales.

In Wales (as in England) social services provide significant amounts of healthcare to disabled and ill young people, which legally should be funded by the NHS.  Although (in my opinion)…

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Inadvertent revocation ~ Cafcass Cymru’s powers

The power of Cafcass Cymru to make applications to the court in response to a referral from a local authority independent reviewing officer in child protection cases was mistaken revoked…

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Additional Learning Needs Act gains Royal Assent

The Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018 gained Royal Assent on the 24 January 2018.  The Act will, when it comes into force, reform Special Education Needs Law in Wales. …

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Adoption Guide

Sarah Coldrick, legal consultant with AFA Cymru and Julie Doughty of Cardiff Law School have produced an  accessible guide to the legal framework governing  the Adoption process.  It is aimed primarily at prospective adopters…

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National Population Assessment Report (2018)

The Welsh Government has published its first National Population Assessment. The report was commissioned by Government and delivered by Social Care Wales. Click here for a briefing on the report.

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National outcomes framework results

The Welsh Government has published the results of its report on the state of ‘well-being’ in Wales: Measuring national well-being: A report on the national outcomes framework for people who need care…

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State of Caring 2017 (Wales)

Carers UK carries out an annual survey of carers to understand the state of caring and uses the findings to inform the Governments of the four nations on the experiences…

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Autism (Wales) Bill

The Consultation on proposal for an Autism Act in Wales has now closed.  Click here for the response submitted by Julie Burton Law, a firm of solicitors based in North Wales.

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Austerity is no excuse for a service led response to need[1]

The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales (PSO) upheld a complaint concerning Gwynedd Council.  Although the case predates the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 the findings are wholly relevant to…

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The legal and administrative processes in adoption

Julie Doughty and her colleagues Sarah Meakings and Katherine Shelton at Cardiff University have published a new paper ‘The legal and administrative processes in adoption: views and experiences of newly…

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A new care homes’ fees case

For an analysis of the Court of Appeal Torbay judgment (including its implications in Wales) click here.

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Track the Act

Carers Wales have published their second  Track the Act briefing. For the English language version click here and for the Welsh language version click here This is a welcome publication as it relates to the experiences…

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Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards in Wales

A briefing by Roger Laidlaw has been added to the Rhydian: ‘Court of Protection in Wales‘ pages.

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Adoption on Sibling Relationships

A new paper concerning The Influence of Adoption on Sibling Relationships by Sarah Meakings Amanda Coffey Katherine H Shelton has been published in the British Journal of Social Work: to access and to download click…

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Re A (A Child) [2016] EWFC B101 (25 August 2016)

This case has been brought to our attention by the Transparency Project whose primary aim is to make Family Law clearer. In the judgment His Honour Judge Gareth Jones rejects a local…

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R (Luke Davey) v. Oxfordshire CC Court of Appeal 2017

People in Wales in receipt of the Independent Living Grant, the Welsh Government’s interim measure to soften the blow of the closure the Independent Living Fund (ILF) would have followed R (Luke Davey) v…

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Humanising Services & Building Communities (i.e.co-production –how the hell do you do it)

Jenny O’Hara Jakeway CEO of Credu-Connecting Carers In this thought provoking and challenging paper, Jenny O’Hara Jakeway examines the opportunities afforded by the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014 and…

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Adult Social Care Social Enterprises and the Foundational Economy in Wales

Professor Ian Rees Jones Director of  WISERD While population ageing, generational conflict and the crisis in social care appear to make regular newspaper headlines, it is striking that clear solutions to the…

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Parliamentary Review of Health and Social Care In Wales – Interim Report

An interim report has been published by the Independent Review of Health and Social Care in Wales, which was set up by the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport…

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Citizens Advice Cymru report on accessing and paying for social care in Wales

A 2017 report by the CAB has found that there is a general lack of awareness of how the social care system works in Wales and that people don’t know…

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The Autism (Wales) Bill

Paul Davies AM proposes to introduce a Private Members’ Bill – The Autism (Wales) Bill – having won the Assembly ballot for such Bills. The intention is that the legislation will ensure (among…

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Administering a cap on costs [2]

The second in a series of ‘posts’ considering the options for the reform of social care funding, subtitled ‘avoiding the obvious’.  The Government has announced that it will ‘publish a…

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Revised NHS Continuing Healthcare Guidance published

New NHS CHC Framework guidance has been published (due to come into force in October): click here for the key documents.

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Neurodevelopmental Conditions Survey

Cerebra and a number of other leading charities are undertaking a survey concerning  the realities of living with more than one neurodevelopmental conditions.  To complete this please click here.

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FACS and fiction

Why is Germany’s military expenditure considerably less than the UKs’, despite Germany being significantly wealthier, more populous and closer to Russia?[1]  Why does Essex spend 40% more (per person) on…

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52% of Carers are Refused Flexible Working – the Law Needs to Change

A ‘What’s New’ post contributed by David Laurence of the Disability Law Service. Disabled people are entitled to have reasonable adjustments made in their workplace conditions in order to ensure…

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Carers and their Rights: Guide

A pre-publication draft of a fully updated (2018) guide to the rights of carers to social care support in England.  Please let me know if you find typos, errors or…

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Disability Law Service vacancy

The most excellent Disability Law Service is looking for a community care lawyer.  For details of the post click here.

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Means testing children’s healthcare ~ by stealth

In England and Wales social services provide significant amounts of healthcare to disabled and ill young people which should be funded by the NHS.  Although unlawful it has been condoned…

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Musical beds

The latest report of the Public Accounts Committee on NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) in England[1] is to be welcomed – introducing, as it does, a note of reality to the…

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Direct Payments Research

The School of Law at Leeds University and Cerebra via their LEaP Project are undertaking research on the adequacy of direct payments for disabled children. This has included Freedom of…

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Social care reform: avoiding the obvious [1]

The first in a series of ‘posts’ considering the options for the reform of social care funding.  The English Government has announced that it will publish a Green Paper on…

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9 SEN Myths

Contact has published 'Nine myths busted about special educational needs in England' - click here.

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N v. Romania (2017)

In N v. Romania[1] the European Court of Human Rights has given a more formal ‘nod’ in the direction of the right to independent living enshrined in Article 19 of…

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Two research opportunities

For details of ESRC studentships – click here For details of The Baily Thomas Charitable Fund studentships - click here    

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NHS Complaints survey

NHS England has launched a survey about the experiences of children, young people and adults with a learning disability, autism or both who have made complaints.  This could result in…

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