As many of my regular readers will know, I have spent the last 5 years campaigning to protect independent living for disabled with high support needs across Wales. In February 2019, we made a break through and the Welsh Government agreed to offer independent assessments to all recipients of the Welsh Independent Living Grant who did not agree with the decisions made by their Local Authority.

Since February, the Welsh Government have pulled out all the stops to make sure that WILG recipients have been assessed properly. They recruited the assessment company, ICS, to carry out the much needed reassessments and the majority of these were completed by the end of October 2019. WILG recipients were looking forward to resolving this issue before Xmas 2019, so that they could look forward to the future some degree of certainty.

However, WILG recipients are still stuck in limbo land and are unable to make plans for the long term future due to the fact that Local Authorities are dragging their feet and refusing to sign off the assessments made by ICS.

The fact that LAs are involved in this process is a contentious one as these are supposed to be independent assessments.The context is that these are being undertaken by ICS without its social worker having sight of any previous care assessments undertaken. This is as ICS did not want its social workers unduly influenced by what a local authority had undertaken or produced previously. Consequently, at the point ICS has concluded and quality assured its assessment on a person it does not know how the outcome of this compares to that which the person’s local authority has undertaken previously. In addition, a local authority may have some key information about a person or their care which may be relevant if ICS had known this.

This seems fair enough and WILG recipients have nothing to hide so would welcome LA involvement. If only it were that easy. I have had no reply to countless emails sent to WCBC this calendar year even though it is in the best interest of WCBC and myself to get this situation sorted once and for all. I must make it clear that I am very thankful to WCBC for agreeing to fund 24/7 support for myself while we await the outcome of the assessment. I appreciate this, but would still like to secure a long term plan that I know will see me through what is left of my life. Surely, a bit of security is not too much to ask while I continue to fight a progressive, genetic disease of the nervous system…

The stress and anxiety that all this indecision and uncertainty is causing, recently forced me to spend a period of time in hospital with a nasty chest infection. I am slowly getting back on my feet, but this whole episode has just renewed my determination to get this this whole sorry mess sorted out once and for all.