Advice on care needs assessment budget

Julia68

I need professional advice to go to appeal/complain regarding a recently assessed care budget.
My 20 years old son has ASD and SLD.
We have found him a lovely home to live in.
I am putting together a team of carers to offer 1-1 support. But I need the budget for this.
At his last college review, the college and social worker were positive about this plan for supported living and agreed that my son needs 1-1 care. 
But his social worker is just completing his assessment and it is indicating a budget that is half what he needs to live in his new home.
I know that some care homes employ the services of a professional who argues the case for a certain level of need, so that a service user receives the budget to enable him to move into the care home. I need something similar for my son. 
Any suggestions?
TIA

Liam_Alumni

Hi @Julia68,

I'm sorry to hear about the difficulties you are having with this.

@Debbie_Scope, can you help?

steve51

Hi @Julia68.

A very warm welcome to our site I do hope that we can offer you both support & advise ???

Please please have a look our "Support & Advise" section were there is details on your current difficulties.

Please please let me know if I can help you further ???

Steve.

Debbie_Alumni

Hi @Julia68,

We could certainly look at some options but I need to know which part of the country you're living in to find out what's available locally.

Please also see the pages on our website about Cuts and changes to Social Care, there's some good information there to help you challenge this.

Look forward to hearing back from you and hopefully we can find you some local support services to help you pursue this.

Best wishes
Debbie

MikeBroderick

Hi @Julia68:

Welcome to the Community! You'll find a lot of helpful folks here like @steve51 and my colleagues @LiamO_Dell and @Debbie_Scope.

Please do get back to Debbie by responding to her post above so that she can look into potential local support services for you.

In a more general sense you may also find the following resources helpful:
A benefits overview and discussions in our sections on Parents and Carers, Learning Difficulties and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).

We're glad you're here and look forward to chatting with you.

Julia68

Hi Debbie,
Thank you for your replies and the warm welcome.
@Debbie_Scope We live in Kinver which is in South Staffordshire (DY7 postcode). We're just on the southern border. So we're actually closer to Stourbridge, Kidderminster and Dudley than any town in Staffordshire. 
I'll check out some of the links suggested.
Thank you

Debbie_Alumni

Hi @Julia68,

How did you get on with the links, did you find anything helpful?

I've tagged my helpline colleague @Angela_Scope into the thread. Angela is the helpline's Social Care Specialist and she might be able to offer some suggestions.
I'll continue to look into it in the meantime.

Have a nice evening
Debbie

Julia68

The only thing I can find that might be useful is the Law Centres. But I really don't think a solicitor would help. 
I used a recommended and specialist solicitor in the past regarding an educational tribunal. She gave me the wrong advice and in the end it was the tribunal people themselves who helped me the most (for free). But I still had to pay the solicitor's fees of course! 
I want to find an ex-social worker who is now working as a consultant/advocate for people who are looking for advice and help on how to get their voice heard in social services. 

Angela_Alumni

HI @Julia68

I have conducted a little on line research and have found the following advocacy services that operate in South Staffordshire that you may find of interest.
Asist
Powher

I would be happy to talk to you in more detail about your specific concerns around the social care package that is being proposed for your son.   If you would like me to give you a call please email your contact details to helpline@scope.org.uk

Angela