Fight Tory Cuts Support John's Disability Rights
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Please support John, so much has been taken from his Disability Expenditures and is now in a struggle to maintain himself in his home.
BACKGROUND
In 1960 John had an accident aged 15 and suffered a spinal injury, dislocated C6/7 vertebrae and broke the spinal cord (complete lesion) and is a Tetraplegic, paralysed from the chest down no hand grip or finger movement, for life. There was no help from district nurses or social services when John came home from hospital and his care needs fell to the family as the only other option was a care home/hospital.
Despite his disabilities John started work in 1962 at 18 Command Workshop as a telecommunications mechanic, as it was work he could do with tools strapped to his hands at the bench, paid his tax and national insurance, learnt to drive and became a paraplegic British sports champion. Father died in 1977 and mother carried on alone with help from myself when I came home. As John got old his disabilities made it difficult to continue working and he retired with ill health in 1992 after 30 years of productive work.
After nearly 40 years of being cared for by mother there came a time when she could no longer cope though illness/age and finally district nurses got involved as did social services. In 2001 mother died and John was left living alone in the house fully dependent on district nurses and social services help. I and my family live close and help where we can.
Since 2009 John has been fitted with a urethral catheter and is incontinence requiring visits day and night by nurses to change it and wash out his bladder and see to his toileting, as he cannot use the toilet this is carried out on his bed using manual manipulation to release the stools by the nurses. He also has coeliac disease onset 2008 and we have to produce all his fresh meals daily and see that there is no cross contamination. We also do all his gardening house maintenance and other support to enable him to live alone in the house. John has been zero rated for his care payments since 2009.
WHAT HAPPENED
In August 2018 John received a financial assessment letter stating that his ability to pay was £65.00 per week. This letter had come out of the blue as John had not had a face to face financial assessment since 2017 and the outcome of that was that he remained zero rated. Dorset Council ignored my letters. Eventually I was given Dorset Council’s Allowance Tool for Financial Assessments – 2017/2018 effective from 16/04/2017 for Disability Related Expenditures (DRE’s) which differed from their A Guide to Paying for care and support services dated May 2018 insomuch that they had changed most of the allowance for DRE’s. This out of the blue assessment cut John’s DRE, s from £141.00 to £53.59 per week
I found an email dated 27 April 2018 from Dorset Council finance Department stating that as John had a high DRE he should pay something and the response from Dorset Council Adult Social Services pinned to the same email gave a list of John’s DRE with a Yellow marker put though most of them reducing his allowance from £141.31 to £30.77. This was a desk top assessment.
I feel that Dorset Council have wandered away from the 2014 Care Act and The Care and Support Statutory Guidance by producing an allowance tool for financial assessments which is budget driven and sets a one size fits all attitude and has moved the goal posts in relation to coeliac disease and other DRE allowances.
WHAT NEXT
We consider that this is Disability Discrimination and we are seeking legal assistance to challenge Dorset Council as our efforts regarding letters have been largely ignored and feel that this must also affect other users of their services. We have been though Citizens Advice various legal help lines Age UK who have advised that specialist legal services are required to pursue this cause further.
John would like to thank you in anticipation for any donations, and hopes that together we can set a precedent for other people in his position. Any funds leftover will be donated towards disability charities.
BACKGROUND
In 1960 John had an accident aged 15 and suffered a spinal injury, dislocated C6/7 vertebrae and broke the spinal cord (complete lesion) and is a Tetraplegic, paralysed from the chest down no hand grip or finger movement, for life. There was no help from district nurses or social services when John came home from hospital and his care needs fell to the family as the only other option was a care home/hospital.
Despite his disabilities John started work in 1962 at 18 Command Workshop as a telecommunications mechanic, as it was work he could do with tools strapped to his hands at the bench, paid his tax and national insurance, learnt to drive and became a paraplegic British sports champion. Father died in 1977 and mother carried on alone with help from myself when I came home. As John got old his disabilities made it difficult to continue working and he retired with ill health in 1992 after 30 years of productive work.
After nearly 40 years of being cared for by mother there came a time when she could no longer cope though illness/age and finally district nurses got involved as did social services. In 2001 mother died and John was left living alone in the house fully dependent on district nurses and social services help. I and my family live close and help where we can.
Since 2009 John has been fitted with a urethral catheter and is incontinence requiring visits day and night by nurses to change it and wash out his bladder and see to his toileting, as he cannot use the toilet this is carried out on his bed using manual manipulation to release the stools by the nurses. He also has coeliac disease onset 2008 and we have to produce all his fresh meals daily and see that there is no cross contamination. We also do all his gardening house maintenance and other support to enable him to live alone in the house. John has been zero rated for his care payments since 2009.
WHAT HAPPENED
In August 2018 John received a financial assessment letter stating that his ability to pay was £65.00 per week. This letter had come out of the blue as John had not had a face to face financial assessment since 2017 and the outcome of that was that he remained zero rated. Dorset Council ignored my letters. Eventually I was given Dorset Council’s Allowance Tool for Financial Assessments – 2017/2018 effective from 16/04/2017 for Disability Related Expenditures (DRE’s) which differed from their A Guide to Paying for care and support services dated May 2018 insomuch that they had changed most of the allowance for DRE’s. This out of the blue assessment cut John’s DRE, s from £141.00 to £53.59 per week
I found an email dated 27 April 2018 from Dorset Council finance Department stating that as John had a high DRE he should pay something and the response from Dorset Council Adult Social Services pinned to the same email gave a list of John’s DRE with a Yellow marker put though most of them reducing his allowance from £141.31 to £30.77. This was a desk top assessment.
I feel that Dorset Council have wandered away from the 2014 Care Act and The Care and Support Statutory Guidance by producing an allowance tool for financial assessments which is budget driven and sets a one size fits all attitude and has moved the goal posts in relation to coeliac disease and other DRE allowances.
WHAT NEXT
We consider that this is Disability Discrimination and we are seeking legal assistance to challenge Dorset Council as our efforts regarding letters have been largely ignored and feel that this must also affect other users of their services. We have been though Citizens Advice various legal help lines Age UK who have advised that specialist legal services are required to pursue this cause further.
John would like to thank you in anticipation for any donations, and hopes that together we can set a precedent for other people in his position. Any funds leftover will be donated towards disability charities.
Organizer
Robert Dias
Organizer
