Disabled Facilities Grants and young people in England
Local authorities have statutory obligations to pay grants to facilitate access to homes by disabled occupants as well as to make them safe for the disabled person and those they…
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The Misuse by local authorities of their ‘protection’ powers
Some disabled people and their families have had negative experiences of the way their local authority or local NHS body behave. In some cases this behaviour feels oppressive and sometimes…
Read moreDirect Payments: Policy, Practice and Innovation Conference
A [pdf] copy of the PowerPoint Luke used at the Disability Wales Conference concerning Direct Payments: Policy, Practice and Innovation held at Cefn Lea, Newtown on the 20th July can…
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Pet care costs and social care charges
For those of us concerned about the high level of local authority charges as well as those sceptical of about the ‘personal budgets’ agenda this is an interesting piece of…
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The accessibility of Disabled Facilities Grant application forms
What can a cash strapped local authority do if the law requires that a grant be paid within 12 months of an application? It appears that about half have decided…
Read moreSave Hereford’s Young Carers Services
Hereford – where I live – having made serious cuts to its carers’ services is now cutting its Young Carers support – see article here. Charlotte has created an e-petition…
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Closure of the Welsh Independent Living Grant: In the cause of equality of provision for disabled people?
Local authorities in Wales are rushing to meet the new September deadline, set by the Minister for Health, for the re-assessment of the 1,300 or more recipients of the Welsh…
Read moreWelsh Independent Living Grant ~ update
The Welsh Government have published an update note concerning the WILG which can be accessed by clicking here. An analysis of the situation will be posted on the 'Rhydian news'…
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Case note
Judicial Review proceedings (withdrawn as settled before final hearing) relating to the failure to assess and then meet the needs of a young person with additional needs and to take…
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Difficulties in getting parent carers needs assessments
Parent carers are reporting difficulties getting assessments of their own need for support as well as getting an assessment of the child’s needs. Reasons given by councils for refusing to…
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Another fall in NHS Continuing Care (CHC) numbers
The CHC figures for the last quarter of 2017-18 have been released.[1] They show that in April 2018 the total number of people eligible for NHS CHC in England stood…
Read moreTransparency in the Family Courts: Publicity and Privacy in Practice
For details of a new publication from Dr Julie Doughty (Cardiff Law School), Lucy Reed and Paul Magrath click here.
Read moreBASW 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…
Read moreSupport 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…
Read moreSpring 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 –…
Read moreCerebra 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…
Read moreWorld 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…
Read moreLeeds 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…
Read moreChild 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…
Read moreParliamentary 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.
Read moreNHS 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)…
Read moreInadvertent 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…
Read moreAdditional 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. …
Read moreAdoption 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…
Read moreNational 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.
Read moreNational 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…
Read moreState 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…
Read moreAutism (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.
Read moreAusterity 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…
Read moreThe 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…
Read moreA new care homes’ fees case
For an analysis of the Court of Appeal Torbay judgment (including its implications in Wales) click here.
Read moreTrack 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…
Read moreDeprivation of Liberty Safeguards in Wales
A briefing by Roger Laidlaw has been added to the Rhydian: ‘Court of Protection in Wales‘ pages.
Read moreAdoption 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…
Read moreRe 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…
Read moreR (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…
Read moreHumanising 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…
Read moreAdult 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…
Read moreParliamentary 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…
Read moreCitizens 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…
Read moreThe 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…
Read moreRevised 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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