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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Category: what’s-new
‘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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Chinese whispers, NHS Complaints & Covid-19
It seems that people who have outstanding NHS complaints are getting letters from Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) stating – for example: Due to the ongoing COVID19 pandemic NHS England and…
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Coronavirus Act threatens care for disabled people
A Position Statement from the Disability Law Service & Professor Luke Clements. Disabled children, disabled adults & carers need special protection in a time of crisis. The last decade of…
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The Coronavirus Act 2020
Updated 1 July 2020. This briefing considers: 1. The main provisions of the Act – this section briefly describes these as they apply to social care in England and Wales…
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Coronavirus Bill Impact assessment.
My good colleague Steve Brett has drawn to my attention the Impact Assessment for the Coronavirus Bill produced by the Department of Health and Social Care. It is an important…
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The Coronavirus Bill and the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1939.
When trying to make sense of the Coronavirus Bill – we should keep in mind the dissenting opinion of Lord Atkin in Liversidge v Anderson [1942] AC 206. It was…
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The Coronavirus Bill, social care & SEN
The Government has published the Coronavirus Bill. It is the most draconian legislation enacted since the Second World War and suspends a whole raft of legislative duties – not…
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Disabled children, their carers and Coronavirus
During the current emergency we must not allow disabled young people and their carers to be pushed to the back of the health and social care queue. A campaign has…
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Is ‘indignation’ old fashioned?
“Mrs X is a disabled pensioner who lives alone in rented accommodation. She was born with cerebral palsy, has no sight in one eye and has had two strokes. She…
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No such word as ‘can’t’
All too often disabled people and families are told that a local authority can’t meet a particular support need because (for example) it can’t find anyone (or any organisation) willing…
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The Queen’s Speech
Social care reform “My ministers will seek cross-party consensus on proposals for long term reform of social care. They will ensure that the social care system provides everyone with the…
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NHS Personal Health Budgets: new rights and new guidance
NHS England has issued new guidance to coincide with the extension[1] of the right to a Personal Health Budget (PHB) to cover people eligible for section 117 Mental Health Act…
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NHS Continuing Healthcare statistics
The latest NHS CHC statistics for England show a small increase in overall numbers of people eligible for funding – up from 55,872 at the end of June to 57,016…
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Unacceptable delay:
Complaints procedures for disabled children and their families The Cerebra Legal Entitlements and Problem-Solving (LEaP) Research Project at Leeds University has published a report concerning serious (and systemic) failings in…
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Anniversary quotes
Two quotes: one published a year ago and the other 175 years ago. 14 million people, a fifth of the population, live in poverty. Four million of these are more…
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Unfortunately … there is no legal footing to justify us not funding
R (CP) v. NE Lincolnshire Council[1] is an important Court of Appeal decision. On one level the judgment demonstrates the complexity of the care / education arrangements for young…
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