I wrote the following email after a distressing meeting with members of Wrexham CBC on Tuesday the 12th of March. It was nothing short of bullying by an unscrupulous and heartless Local Authority. I will let you read the email below and come to your own conclusions.
I am supposed to be looking forward to taking my first short break for almost a quarter of a century, but instead I am having to go through untold stress due to the inadequacies shown by the LA. The problem is that those in control of the purse strings at the local council do not understand or plead ignorance to the Social Services and well-being (Wales) Act 2014. This is Welsh government legislation that is supposed to be beneficial to disabled people across Wales. Sadly, this is not the case because LA’s across Wales are simply interpreting the Act to benefit themselves.
I should be living my life in accordance with this Act, but it is proving to be a toothless tiger of an Act thanks to LA interpretation.
Without further delay, please find below a run down of Tuesdays meeting with the LA, which has started something special – this bear can only be poked so many times before he says enough is enough…
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I have just had an unpleasant meeting with 2 Wrexham CBC staff this afternoon. I had Chris Hall and Jon Roberts (PA) with me. The Council handed me a very harsh letter, which was actually written on 29-2-24. That should have been posted or emailed to me, to give me time to read and consider it. This was intentional, nasty and caused me a panic attack. They required me to read the letter forthwith and to respond immediately. I was incensed and had to take a beta blocker tablet to get my stress levels under control. This was totally inappropriate and contrived – there is no reason to have withheld that letter from me till today.
The letter was again going into the details of my Direct Payments monies and they were challenging me over more details of my outgoings. This included the “night rate” of staff pay. You can read the details.
They are now challenging me on a series of outgoings totalling £1,314.01 saying that they do not fall within Direct Payments and that I must therefore pay back the full sum within 3 weeks, by Friday 29-3-24 (not actually 3 weeks). They do not accept that any items which I have spent upon can be paid for by Direct Payments, but these items are mostly basics to assist my care, health and wellbeing. We asked them to provide a clear list of what Direct Payments can be spent upon but they were very reluctant to provide that.
They seem to insist that my Direct Payments can in essence only be spent upon my staff care and any “assessed eligible needs”. This takes us back to the fact that they drafted my utterly inadequate Care and Support Plan with just 3 wellbeing outcomes. As a result It appears there is nothing I need which can be classified as an assessed eligible need.
Further I have thus been forced to draft my own Care and Support Plan with some 14 diverse and varied needs. But the Council have resolutely failed to respond positively or even negatively to my “grafted” Care and Support Plan written and “co-produced” with my informal care co-operative. If they were to accept my Care and Support Plan then I would have some 14 wellbeing outcomes as “assessed eligible needs” which needed funding from my Direct Payments. But they are now draining away all my Direct Payments either on staff costs or by direct “clawback” leaving me with very little left. I am convinced that Wrexham Social Services department do not understand either the the legislation (Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014) or its underlying intent.
I am at a loss how to proceed and how to fight the Local Authority and I don’t think they should be able to get away with such appalling treatment of myself or indeed any other disabled person. It is therefore very timely that my Senedd Petition is being considered on Monday 18th March. But I recognise all these problems and setbacks cannot be resolved immediately for my benefit.
I therefore hope we can make some progress and I am informing you of the reality on the ground for recipients of Direct Payments at the hands of Wrexham CBC Social Services Department. I cannot suggest all the solutions needed but hope you will think about all the changes that need to be made to put this situation right.
Nathan
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