Full Story:
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/News_0394.htm
You could be forgiven for treating the government’s promise radically to rethink long-term care for the elderly with some scepticism.
Many promises from Labour to reform the controversial funding system of social care have come to nothing, including a Royal Commission which recommended free personal care for all.
That was deemed too expensive and killed off with lightning speed, although it has been adopted in Scotland.
Insiders say that the government has now finally accepted that the current system, developed along with the NHS 60 years ago, is unsustainable.
The ageing population and the increase in disabled people living longer and fuller lives means that the demand for help with day-to-day living is rocketing.
Yet tighter and tighter restrictions from local authorities on who qualifies for help means that ever increasing numbers of families are forced to make huge financial sacrifices, such as selling their home, to pay for it. Others end up giving up their jobs to care for elderly relatives themselves, because the cost of care is too high, or the quality too low.
One of the key things that will have to be addressed is the “cliff edge” – the financial cut-off that dictates that anyone with a home or other assets worth £21,000 or more gets no help at all. Any reform could mean even more unpopular means-testing, although more people might qualify for help as a result.
Archive for October 10th, 2007
Full Story:
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/News_0393.htm
The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) has said the government should consider making more information public about family court cases involving children.
The call was made in BASW’s response to a Ministry of Justice consultation on making the family court system more open, which ended last week. But the organisation added that ultimately the individuals involved in cases “should have a level of freedom to decide whether and when” information is made public.
BASW also welcomed the government’s decision not to go ahead with plans to give the media a right to sit in on family court hearings and emphasised the importance of protecting the identity of children involved in family court cases unless there are “persuasive welfare considerations”
A DAY FOR REFLECTION
Full Story:
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/News_0392.htm
Today is World Mental Health Day, a time to reflect on how we can all promote good mental health and treat people with mental distress fairly and with respect.About one person in three in Wales will experience some form of mental health problem every year, and a very few may face the frightening prospect of being detained for compulsory treatment under the Mental Health Act. This can be an extremely stressful and confusing time not just for the person affected but also for family and friends. The Legal Services Commission helps vulnerable people, including those in mental distress, to get advice via skilled and dedicated providers. This promotes social inclusion and is fundamental to social and legal justice.
Time for change
Full Story:
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/News_0391.htm
New facts about carers’ lives are a call to arms, says Imelda Redmond
Caring is ubiquitous. It can happen to you or me, today, tomorrow, gradually or overnight, for a partner, parent or disabled child – and it was high on the agenda at this year’s party conferences. So why are politicians finally paying attention to this major issue of our time?
They know that, in a competitive world, our economy cannot afford to have men and women who want to work being forced to give up their jobs to care. Yet with unpaid care now valued at £87bn a year, the social economy cannot afford to lose carers, without whose contribution the social care system would collapse.
For 40 years, Carers UK has been making the case for better support for carers, and for carers’ right to a life outside caring. The majority of carers are of working age, and we know that carers who cannot work face considerable financial disadvantage, even poverty, which can persist right into retirement, and which brings with it further costs in health and wellbeing.
Full Story:
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/News_0390.htm
An extra £200 million was promised for the refurbishment of primary school buildings and £250 million for child services – but experts say that the settlement still represents a significant cut.
In addition to the £1.15 billion committed in the Budget and the £550 million left over from the last spending review, the new money for primary schools will create a pot of nearly £2 billion for the refurbishment of 675 schools in England by 2011.
Though welcome, this will not come close to covering the money needed to meet the Government’s aim of refurbishing half of all the 20,000 primary schools in England. And it is still only a fraction of the £45 billion budget earmarked for rebuilding secondary schools over the next 20 years.
It is likely that the extra £250 million for children’s services will be spread pretty thinly between education and social care services. Details of where the money is to be spent will be announced in in December, but it is expected that the schools element may be used to fund schemes such as catchup classes for stragglers and extension lessons for the most able.
The money will also be required to help schools to meet the new public service agreements targets, which include increasing the number of pupils with five good GCSEs, including maths and English, from 46 per cent to 53 per cent by 2011.
There are also new targets for improving the communication skills and emotional development of the underfives and for reducing the attainment gap between poorer and middle-class children of all ages.
Full Story:
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/News_0394.htm
You could be forgiven for treating the government’s promise radically to rethink long-term care for the elderly with some scepticism.
Many promises from Labour to reform the controversial funding system of social care have come to nothing, including a Royal Commission which recommended free personal care for all.
That was deemed too expensive and killed off with lightning speed, although it has been adopted in Scotland.
Insiders say that the government has now finally accepted that the current system, developed along with the NHS 60 years ago, is unsustainable.
The ageing population and the increase in disabled people living longer and fuller lives means that the demand for help with day-to-day living is rocketing.
Yet tighter and tighter restrictions from local authorities on who qualifies for help means that ever increasing numbers of families are forced to make huge financial sacrifices, such as selling their home, to pay for it. Others end up giving up their jobs to care for elderly relatives themselves, because the cost of care is too high, or the quality too low.
One of the key things that will have to be addressed is the “cliff edge” – the financial cut-off that dictates that anyone with a home or other assets worth £21,000 or more gets no help at all. Any reform could mean even more unpopular means-testing, although more people might qualify for help as a result.
Full Story:
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/News_0393.htm
The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) has said the government should consider making more information public about family court cases involving children.
The call was made in BASW’s response to a Ministry of Justice consultation on making the family court system more open, which ended last week. But the organisation added that ultimately the individuals involved in cases “should have a level of freedom to decide whether and when” information is made public.
BASW also welcomed the government’s decision not to go ahead with plans to give the media a right to sit in on family court hearings and emphasised the importance of protecting the identity of children involved in family court cases unless there are “persuasive welfare considerations”
A DAY FOR REFLECTION
Full Story:
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/News_0392.htm
Today is World Mental Health Day, a time to reflect on how we can all promote good mental health and treat people with mental distress fairly and with respect.About one person in three in Wales will experience some form of mental health problem every year, and a very few may face the frightening prospect of being detained for compulsory treatment under the Mental Health Act. This can be an extremely stressful and confusing time not just for the person affected but also for family and friends. The Legal Services Commission helps vulnerable people, including those in mental distress, to get advice via skilled and dedicated providers. This promotes social inclusion and is fundamental to social and legal justice.
Time for change
Full Story:
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/News_0391.htm
New facts about carers’ lives are a call to arms, says Imelda Redmond
Caring is ubiquitous. It can happen to you or me, today, tomorrow, gradually or overnight, for a partner, parent or disabled child – and it was high on the agenda at this year’s party conferences. So why are politicians finally paying attention to this major issue of our time?
They know that, in a competitive world, our economy cannot afford to have men and women who want to work being forced to give up their jobs to care. Yet with unpaid care now valued at £87bn a year, the social economy cannot afford to lose carers, without whose contribution the social care system would collapse.
For 40 years, Carers UK has been making the case for better support for carers, and for carers’ right to a life outside caring. The majority of carers are of working age, and we know that carers who cannot work face considerable financial disadvantage, even poverty, which can persist right into retirement, and which brings with it further costs in health and wellbeing.
Full Story:
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/News_0390.htm
An extra £200 million was promised for the refurbishment of primary school buildings and £250 million for child services – but experts say that the settlement still represents a significant cut.
In addition to the £1.15 billion committed in the Budget and the £550 million left over from the last spending review, the new money for primary schools will create a pot of nearly £2 billion for the refurbishment of 675 schools in England by 2011.
Though welcome, this will not come close to covering the money needed to meet the Government’s aim of refurbishing half of all the 20,000 primary schools in England. And it is still only a fraction of the £45 billion budget earmarked for rebuilding secondary schools over the next 20 years.
It is likely that the extra £250 million for children’s services will be spread pretty thinly between education and social care services. Details of where the money is to be spent will be announced in in December, but it is expected that the schools element may be used to fund schemes such as catchup classes for stragglers and extension lessons for the most able.
The money will also be required to help schools to meet the new public service agreements targets, which include increasing the number of pupils with five good GCSEs, including maths and English, from 46 per cent to 53 per cent by 2011.
There are also new targets for improving the communication skills and emotional development of the underfives and for reducing the attainment gap between poorer and middle-class children of all ages.
