Old £1 coin spending deadline looms

The Treasury says there are now more of the new £1 coins, which first entered circulation in March, than the old round pound.

From 15 October, shops can refuse the old version of the coin.

However, most banks and Post Office counters will continue to accept them from customers.

“The clock is ticking. We are urging the public to spend, bank or donate their old pound coins and asking businesses who are yet to do so, to update their systems before the old coin ceases to be legal tender,” said Andrew Jones, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury.

The Royal Mint is striking 1.5 billion new 12-sided £1 coins, which were introduced to help crack down on counterfeiting.

The Mint has claimed the new £1 is the “most secure coin in the world”, replacing the previous £1 coin, of which about one in 40 are thought to be fake.

The new coin has a string of anti-counterfeiting details, including material inside the coin itself which can be detected when electronically scanned by coin-counting or payment machines.

Other security measures include an image that works like a hologram, and micro-sized lettering inside both rims.

Southwark gears up to deliver hundreds more new council homes

The bulk of these homes are in an application that has gone to planning along Commercial Way in Peckham where there will 109 new homes, including 35 intermediate homes and 74 council homes. Two more planning applications have been submitted for the Goschen Estate in Camberwell and Rye Hill in Peckham Rye with 17 and 23 new homes respectively.

Planning permission has already been granted for six other applications; 14 homes on Nunhead Lane, 12 on Tenda Road in Bermondsey, 21 on the Kinglake Estate on the Old Kent Road, 29 at Meeting House Lane in Peckham, 17 on Pelier Street in Walworth and 14 at Haddonfield in Rotherhithe.

These homes are part of the council’s Direct Delivery programme where the council is building new homes on infill sites on existing housing estate land. A further 50 new homes were given planning permission last week on Albion Street, Rotherhithe, as part of the council’s Southwark Regeneration in Partnership (SRiP) programme. Half of the Albion Street homes will be at council rents, 12 will be intermediate and 13 will be sold privately to help fund the building programme. A decision is due tonight (Monday 11 September) on 14 social homes and 12 intermediate homes on the former Albion Civic Centre.

So far, just over 180 social rent homes have either got planning permission or are going through planning as part of the SRiP programme which sees the council working with developers to deliver homes on non-housing estate land that the council owns.

Cllr Mark Williams, cabinet member for regeneration and new homes, said: “Southwark Council continues to tackle the housing crisis head-on by delivering new homes of all kinds for our residents, a key part of this work is our ground-breaking programme to build 11,000 new council homes, the largest new council home build programme in the country.

“With 360 new council homes already complete with residents already moved in and these sites ready to start soon, we are leading the charge to provide quality affordable homes for our residents.”

“The new homes we are building are of the highest quality and the first of the new homes at Willow Walk were recognised by the national Local Authority Building Control Awards. We are ensuring that quality in delivery continues by using our Southwark Council Housing Design Guide which sets out clearly the standards that our architects and delivery partners must meet or exceed.”

The council has agreed 50 per cent of all new council homes are offered as local lettings in the first instance so local residents can benefit from the developments.

Jeremy Hunt to unveil plans for digital-led NHS treatment by 2018

Jeremy Hunt is to pledge that every patient in England should be able to access their medical records and book an appointment with a GP via an app by the end of 2018.

The health secretary will use his speech at an NHS conference on Tuesday to promise the national rollout of an integrated app, which patients will also be able to use for ordering repeat prescriptions and accessing NHS 111 – the non-emergency medical helpline.

Speaking at the Health and Care Innovation Expo in Manchester, he is expected to unveil the key expectations he wants to see rolled out across the NHS by the end of its 70th birthday year in 2018.

Hunt will also refer to the next 10 years as “the decade of patient power”.

He is expected to say: “People should be able to access their own medical records 24/7, show their full medical history to anyone they choose and book basic services like GP appointments or repeat prescriptions online.

“I do not underestimate the challenge of getting there – but if we do it will be the best possible 70th birthday present from the NHS to its patients.”

Pilot schemes, which are a part of the £4.2bn personalised health and care 2020 programme announced by the health secretary last year, are already under way.

In south-east London, patients can access NHS 111, book GP appointments, order repeat prescriptions and receive online consultations with their GP all via a smartphone.

Evaluation of the pilots is ongoing and, if they are successful, there will be a national rollout of the programmes in the coming months.

There has also been success with online trials supporting those with long-term conditions – such as the app MyCOPD, which is intended to help patients manage their condition independently and give them more freedom and less reliance on GP and hospital appointments. The ambition is that this level of digitally led treatment should be available universally.

Imelda Redmond, national director of Healthwatch England, welcomed the plans, saying the vision “directly addresses” what the public wants from a modern NHS.

She added: “It is a huge step forward in ensuring all of us get the sort of integrated service we have come to expect in many other areas of life.”

Benefit cap blamed for 85% cut in new homes for vulnerable people

A survey of 69 housing associations representing a third of sheltered housing in England found dozens of schemes for new housing either postponed, cancelled or facing closure, a drop from 8,800 to just 1,350 homes.

Housing schemes facing closure or postponement include homes for war veterans adjusting back to civilian life and supported living for people with learning disabilities to help them live independently. The changes could also apply to secure housing for domestic violence victims.

The National Housing Federation (NHF), which conducted the survey, said schemes were threatened by uncertainty over planned changes affecting housing benefit for supported accommodation.

Around two-thirds of housing associations contacted said they had decreased their development plans. Almost four in 10 said they had postponed new developments, one in 10 had cancelled new developments, and 7% planned to close existing schemes between now and 2019.

Riverside, a scheme for homeless veterans in Colchester is among those currently stalled. The association’s executive director of care and support, John Glenton, who gave evidence to parliament on the proposed changes, said the uncertainty over the future of the funding had led to the scheme’s postponement.

“While this uncertainty over funding continues, a question mark hangs over development plans which would support some of society’s most vulnerable people,” he said. “Along with other landlords, we urge the government to resolve this quickly.”

The government has proposed capping benefits for those living in supported and sheltered housing to match the housing benefit tenants receive if they rent from a private landlord.

Critics say the rates, known as local housing allowance, would create a “postcode lottery” and have no relationship to the cost of proving specialist housing support. Additional costs are supposed to be met by local councils but providers have said the details for this provision have so far been vague.

Last May, a joint parliamentary committee called on the government to scrap the plan, warning the proposed changes “could lead to a serious shortfall in the availability of supported housing”. A green paper, expected to detail the proposals, was due before the summer but has now been postponed until the end of autumn.

Of the 69 housing associations surveyed, the report found:

• 71 new schemes, representing 2,185 homes, had been postponed.
• 19 new developments, totalling 803 homes, had been cancelled.
• 22 existing supported schemes and three sheltered schemes, amounting to 132 homes, were facing closure.

The chief executive of the NHF, David Orr, said the planned changes to funding were directly preventing the building of homes for the most vulnerable and that the government had “failed to heed warnings”.

“With social care in crisis, the role supported housing plays in alleviating pressures on the NHS is ever more important,” he said. “These changes have not even come in yet and they have taken 7,000 homes for vulnerable people out of the pipeline.

“The proposed changes in funding bear no relation to the real cost of providing this type of housing. It is time government put supported housing on a secure and sustainable footing.”

Labour’s John Healey, the shadow housing minister, called on the government to scrap the changes. “This is a damaging and short-sighted policy proposal which ministers have already been forced to delay and then amend under pressure from Labour and housing organisations,” he said.

“Before the damage gets any worse, ministers must halt these crude cuts and work with the housing sector to produce a new plan to put supported housing on a sustainable footing.”

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said the department valued the role of supported and sheltered accommodation. “We have consulted fully on the new model and have been clear we will set out the next steps soon so that the supported housing sector has the certainty it needs to deliver in the future,” the spokesman said.

Make a playlist for someone with dementia: the results will astonish you

In October BBC Radio 3 will broadcast a six-hour programme blending music with the voices of people living with dementia, in a collaboration with the Wellcome Collection. It promises to be a moving demonstration of something we all need to know: that music can be a powerful tool for people with dementia.

Music is neurologically special. If your brain were to be scanned while you listened to your favourite music, the screen would light up like a fireworks display. Not just the auditory cortex, but areas involved in emotion and memory, language and decision-making, movement and reactions.

Even if dementia erodes one part of your brain, music can still reach those other parts to tap into emotions, memories and even abilities thought lost.

The results can be astonishing – and profoundly moving. People who cannot speak can sing. People who struggle to walk can dance. People who have withdrawn into themselves take an interest in others again.

These effects explain the growing number of musical activities for people with dementia. Formal music therapy is wonderful but out of reach to many. The Alzheimer’s Society runs Singing for the Brain groups. There are fabulous outreach programmes by arts companies such as Opera Holland Park and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, bringing live music into care homes.

Through music, these schemes bring people with dementia out of themselves to connect with others. But they rely on specialist expertise or a group setting that cannot be available when someone is having difficulty dressing, or lying on a trolley in A&E, or despairing at night.

There is a growing movement to democratise the power of music, including teaching families and care staff how to use something we all possess – the soundtrack to our own lives.

We all know that flashback feeling when a song comes on the radio and takes you back to another time, person or place. That is personally meaningful music – and research shows it has the most powerful effect.

At Playlist for Life, we teach skills to help family members and care staff find the right music for someone with dementia, and how to harness its effects. Playlist for Life has partnered with The Centre for Dementia Prevention at the University of Edinburgh to help further the research.

Carers and organisations urged to get involved in National Dementia Carers’ Day

Now in its third year and falling within Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, the national day was introduced to recognise and celebrate informal dementia carers, while highlighting what it means to be a carer.

The focus of this year’s campaign is sharing. Carers are invited to connect and share their experiences, tips and stories; while members of the public are encouraged to get involved by sharing their appreciation for a dementia carer they know.

Local support organisations, charities and community groups are also being urged to get behind the campaign by spreading awareness and helping to signpost local sources of advice and support using ‪#‎NDCD17.

According to Alzheimer’s Research there are currently around 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK, who are being cared for by 700,000 informal carers

Over a third of the population (38pc) know a family member or close friend living with dementia, 39pc of informal carers are estimated to spend more than 100 hours per week caring for the person with dementia.

Plus 61.1pc said they have had no or not enough support

Nicki Bones, from SweetTree Home Care Services, one of the founders of the day, said: “When you’re caring for a loved one with dementia the world can be a very lonely place sometimes and as the disease progresses new challenges can often arise.

“Raising awareness is vital if we are to build dementia-friendly communities. The national day aims to bring people together and to recognise the innovative care that is being provided every single day by informal carers – care which often goes unseen. Families need to know that they’re not alone and what advice and support is available to them.”

For more information about the day and to get involved, go to the website www.nationaldementiacarersday.co.uk, visit the Facebook page www.facebook.com/NationalDementiaCarersDay or tweet using @Dementia_Carers ‪#NDCD17

Returning to work after time out for caring

In the Spring Budget 2017, the Government committed “to promoting returnships to the public and private sector, helping people back into employment after a career break.” This commitment focusses on supporting returners, who are defined as those that have taken time out of paid employment to care for children or other family members.

This call for evidence is for:

1. Those who have returned to work after time out caring for children or family
2. Those currently caring for children or family who would like to return to work
3. Employers
4. Organisations or individuals with knowledge of returners

Please follow the link below to complete the online survey and access further background to this call for evidence.

This background also includes a form for you to complete if you are happy to participate in this call for evidence.

Take part in the consultation

The RISE Project

RISE is tailored for women who have concerns about their wellbeing, regardless of their circumstances. No matter whether they are unemployed, retired, a single mother, or just need a little help, RISE is open to them.

To register your interest please click here, or send us an email at [email protected]

Social worker’s case management delays caused ‘actual harm to service users’

A children’s social worker has been suspended from the register for 12 months after being found guilty of misconduct.

The experienced practitioner, who was described as “pleasant and likeable” and had been at Southwark council since 2008, was deemed to have displayed a lack of competence in relation to 16 different service users and their families. In some cases this was found to have caused actual harm, according to a Health and Care Professions Council panel.

The social worker was a member of the local authority’s children with disabilities team and many of the cases related to children with autism. On numerous occasions he was found to have failed to complete assessments – on some occasions for years – despite reminders from managers to do so.

The tribunal noted that there were some mitigating circumstances in the case, notably around workload and difficulties with IT systems. But the panel said that the factors “did not significantly lessen the Registrant’s culpability for his failures”.

Period of support

Concerns about the social worker’s performance were raised in late 2014, the tribunal heard. There followed a period of support, including supervision and guidance meetings at which the social worker’s performance was discussed.

An investigation was then carried out by ‘RW’, a team manager who worked alongside the social worker and carried out some of his supervisions, and submitted to the council’s HR department in November 2015.

“The evidence of RW was that during guidance meetings and the capability process the Registrant acknowledged that his work fell below the required standards,” the tribunal found. “He did not dispute the facts, but put forward mitigating factors of difficulties with IT system and pressure of work.”

The social worker waived his right to attend the tribunal. Among a long list of examples relating to 16 different service users, which were found to be proved, the panel heard that:

• In 2015, the social worker received a call from the chronically ill mother of ‘Service User 1′, who “was acting as a young carer and was exhibiting emotional and behavioural difficulties both at home and at school”. The mother said her son had gone missing with another child, but the social worker failed to report this to the duty manager, for whom he was working that day.
• In 2014, the social worker was asked to interview a 13-year-old boy with moderate to severe learning disabilities and other health concerns, at his school. The boy’s father was the subject of a sexual abuse allegation relating to a teenage girl and RW wanted the social worker “to ascertain whether there were any concerns of sexual abuse within the family”. The social worker did not carry out the interview, nor did he visit the boy’s home until almost a year later.
• In 2014, the social worker was contacted by the school of an eight-year-old boy with autism and a long history of psychosis who was exhibiting sexualised behaviour and language. The social worker did not respond, nor did he notify his manager. “Given that these concerns related to sexualised behaviour, they were predominantly safeguarding issues, and should have been responded to quickly,” the tribunal found.

A small number of additional allegations, relating to the same group of service users, were not substantiated because of insufficient evidence.

The tribunal heard that some of the social worker’s other practice was satisfactory and that he “appeared to be busy at work, but spent much of his time on the telephone or engaged in lengthy home visits”.

He had during guidance meetings been offered support and training around organisation and time management, as well as opportunities to join a buddy system and receive counselling. “The Registrant did not ask for help or take up any of the suggestions, other than the offer of increased frequency of supervision,” the panel found.

‘Actual harm’

The tribunal concluded that the social worker had caused actual harm to service users in cases where families entitled to services had been deprived of them because of assessment delays.

“There was the potential for further harm such as family breakup or a family being unable to care for the child, so that the child needed to be taken into care,” the panel noted. It added that the social worker’s conduct could have caused families or other service users to lose confidence in Southwark council and so not seek help when needed.

In deciding on an appropriate sanction the tribunal considered a number of aggravating factors, including the social worker’s repeated failures despite frequent reminders, lack of remorse or engagement with the HCPC and likelihood of repeat behaviour.

A 12-month suspension, rather than striking-off, was deemed appropriate based on the lack of serious bad behaviour – such as dishonesty or sexual misconduct – and the possibility the social worker could decide to take steps to remedy his actions.

“It is not in the public interest that a qualified and experienced social worker is removed from the register if there is a prospect that [they] will be able to remediate past misconduct and return to safe practice,” the tribunal concluded.

Story is reproduced courtesy of Community Care – http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2017/09/05/social-workers-case-management-delays-caused-actual-harm-service-users/

CPAG wins breakthrough case as operation of late mandatory reconsideration scheme ruled unlawful

The unanimous decision of three senior judges reflects the constitutional importance of access to justice, and will make it much easier to challenge unjust benefit decisions at a tribunal.

Since 2013, where a claimant wishes to challenge a refusal of benefit, there has been a requirement to apply for a ‘mandatory reconsideration’ before appealing to an independent tribunal. The Department for Work and Pensions has consistently asserted that where it decides a mandatory reconsideration application has been made too late, no right of appeal arises. The effect has been to exclude large numbers of benefit claimants from access to the justice system, and in the words of the UT, ‘result in a significant number of claimants who are entitled to benefits not being paid them’.

CJ and SG are women with serious health problems who were refused employment and support allowance and made late applications to challenge the refusal decisions. In both cases it has subsequently been established that the refusals were wrong and the claimants should have been receiving benefit. However, in both cases the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions initially refused to change the decisions and refused to let a tribunal consider whether that was correct.

The UT, chaired by Chamber President Mr Justice Charles, finds the Secretary of State’s position unlawful. It would improperly make the Secretary of State ‘gatekeeper to the independent tribunal system’.

The correct position, as declared by the UT, is that where a claimant makes a mandatory reconsideration request at any time within 13 months of the original decision, she will, if dissatisfied, subsequently be entitled to pursue her challenge to a tribunal.

The Government had argued that there was no need to have access to the tribunal because its decisions on late mandatory reconsideration requests could be challenged by judicial review. The UT observed that out of 1,544,805 mandatory reconsideration decisions made by government between 2013 and 2017, there had not been a single example of a claimant managing to bring a judicial review challenge of the kind the government suggested was a reasonable alternative to using a tribunal.

Commenting on the tribunal’s decision, CPAG’s legal officer Carla Clarke said:

“This is fantastic news. Not only is it a vindication for our two clients but it stands to provide justice for significant numbers of families wrongly denied the financial help to which they are entitled. This decision ensures that even if the DWP thinks there is no good reason for their delay, it cannot prevent such individuals pursuing an appeal before an independent tribunal. To have found otherwise would have been to uphold a system where the decision maker also acts as arbiter of whether an individual could challenge their decision or not – a clear conflict of interest and an affront to justice.

“This judgment comes straight on the heels of the Supreme Court judgment on employment appeal fees and, as with that case, ensures that access to justice exists not only in theory but as a practical reality in the real world in which ordinary people live.”

CJ and SG were represented by Stephen Knafler QC and Tom Royston, instructed by Carla Clarke, legal officer of the Child Poverty Action Group.