Author Archives: wendy

Disabled girl ‘lost in the system’ by Birmingham City Council for four years

March 20, 2014   autism, Carers, disability, special needs

Birmingham City Council “singularly failed” a disabled child “lost in the system” for more than four years, the Local Government Ombudsman has ruled.

A report said the authority failed to contact the girl’s mother from November 2006 to March 2011 to assess support payments.

It added social workers had not identified the girl’s “complex needs” and left her mother to raise her alone.

The council has agreed to pay £5,000 following the ombudsman’s report.

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Sick and disabled made to wait for more than six months to know if they will get benefit

March 18, 2014   benefits, Carers, disability

Controversial new benefits system.

People with disabilities and severe illnesses are being made to wait for more than six months to find out if they are eligible for financial support from the Government under a controversial new benefits system.

In a highly critical report, a committee of MPs described delays in processing the Personal Independence Payments (PIPs) as “unacceptable”. They called for ministers to invoke penalty clauses for the delays on the two private companies, Atos Healthcare and Capital Business Services, which provide the assessments.

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Shock over mental health trust’s £5m redundancy bill

March 18, 2014   Carers, mental health, Norfolk

Hellesdon Hospital.

Hellesdon Hospital.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014
6:30 AM

The mental health trust for Norfolk and Suffolk, which is trying to fill hundreds of vacancies, spent more than £5m on redundancy payments last year, it has emerged.

Union officials spoke of their shock after bosses at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) admitted they had gone over their forecasted budget on redundancy costs as part of the organisation’s radical redesign of services.

The NHS trust had budgeted £4.8m for anticipated redundancies as part of its strategy to overhaul services to reduce costs by 20pc by 2016.

However, figures obtained from a Freedom of Information request have revealed that the NHS trust spent a total of £5.5m on 145 redundancies between April and December.

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