SW Closed Our Personal Budget!

[pipsy]

Hi,

Just received a letter as currently going through the complaints process at stage 2. I missed an appointment with a social worker and they both with their manager agreed to close our file down in June 2019! I had no knowledge of this they did not call or send a letter out to inform me. I received a letter yesterday to tell me any correspondance sent after June 2019 was binned or as they call it set aside!

They binned my complaint, they binned my registration documents, timetable and requests. They also refuse to believe there is a complaint that was upheld by me to a social work manager saying it was an INFORMAL complaint not formal!

They deny calls were made when I showed them SAR info they are dening everything! They mentioned a social work manager doesn't have the capability to raise and approve complaints! its a seperate department?

They took 2 1/2 months to reply after constantly calling and emailing them for a response now they claim is was unavailabilty of staff who do reviews and pinged in the festive season as result for exceeding their deadlines?

They claim that your using your POA over someone as an opinion not a fact based on needs? They think your abusing the system having your own opinion on what option to choose!

They claim I'm literally refusing to do a new assessment as I pointed out legislation that states a new assessment is not required switching options 2 to 1?

They claim there was so meeting or agreement that took place outside their office!

Absolute joke social work is not all departments but the departments that deal with direct payments and care packages an investigation needs to be done but no one will ever imo.

Don't know if this would help anyone but i hope I have better luck with the ombudsman to overturn this decision and reinstate my brothers personal budget on option 1 and pay us compensation for distress and loss of time.

[Chris From The Gulag]

Short of waiting for a response from the LA and Social Care Ombudsman ... CAB ?

I will assume employing a solicitor specializing in such matters is out of the question ?

[bowlingbun]

You or your brother might be entitled to Legal Aid for this, depending on your financial circumstances.

I'm constantly complaining about Hampshire's treatment of me and my son, but I've never seen anything like what you are describing.
Do you have copies of what you sent?

Now is the time to make a "Subject Access Request" to the LA, asking for copies of everything they have written about you on your files.
They have to provide this in 30 days, or you can complain to the Information Commisisoner.
Make sure you ask for a PRINTED version, to make their lives as difficult as possible.

[pipsy]

I'm considering going down the legal route depending on the 13 week wait time for the ombudsman. Your unable to make a claim to the ombudsman unless you've completed stage 2 and its not in court already.

Court cases usually last 2-3 years due to 1-2 staff available (thats the reality I'm telling you). I do have the mental strength and some money for it to be honest I think I have a good case and evidence.

bowlingbun

That's what I sent to them the SAR they are dening calls, meetings, complaints raised, paperwork sent in was actually paperwork sent in ERROR and returned as garbage basically. After calling them approx 40-50 times over a 1.5 year period and sending several letters they deem that as YOU HAVE CHOSEN NOT TO HAVE AN ASSESSMENT AND CHOSEN TO DISENGAGE FROM SOCIAL SERVICES contact the duty team for a new assessment! We've been on a waiting list for 9 months!

[pipsy]

So, after 2 1/2 years the ombudsman made its decision about my brother personal budget.

The ombudsman sided with the council and there reasons for rejection. The main one was I CHOOSE TO DISENGAGE in services! the ombudsman couldnt even bother to look at the SAR documents that I did contact them several times and sent in paperwork.

I just found out through the ombudsman that a new assessment was supposed to be done which is now closed without them informing me when they told me i was on a waiting list!

What i have learned is call them every week for an update as they may close your case down for some reason and then label it a technical error without your knowledge I know its tidious but better being safe that them pretending that your on a waiting list most likley you will be kicked off the list.

The also stated they are unable to give time and trouble awards! for (distress and anxiety caused) they have given them to others under the complaints cases on their website!

They also claim they cannot be involved in the assessment process fair enough but they dont even check if they are following due process.

They also claim they cannot contact individual staff for investigation about ill practises. Who will then looks like nobody and they get away with it.

I have lost so much time trying to get the council to overturn the decision its not worth it. It will take you 2-3 years to get a conclusion and it will be something vague. Best thing to do is cancel the current service and reapply for a new assessment or get temp accommodation to another council area and apply when successful then switch back to orginal home address/council area. I understand when you move from one council to another they give you a temp budget to work with until the permanent one get sorted which could be 6-12 months in covid times non covid times it was 2-3 months.