Edinburgh - Following presentations from advocacy and service user groups, the council meeting today dropped all plans to tender the care and support services for 777 vulnerable adults and they also dropped plans to limit direct payments to £15.04. Instead the council will set up a “review group” to involve service users, advocacy groups, carers and providers to look at how to resolve outstanding issues about Direct Payment. A number of heartfelt apologies were made and this made a difference to the people who heard them. This is an excellent move towards negotiation and partnership working within the city. Council Leader, Jenny Dawe, exerted good leadership in delivering this deal and deserves to be congratulated for this. This can be the start of a new working arrangement in Scotland’s capital city.
Argyll & Bute - Two tremendous presentations were made from service users about the value of community based support services. Many were moved to tears as a result. After a long and thorough debate councillors reconsidered their decision to remove funding from learning disability services. Neighbourhood Networks will receive full funding for another year. Local Area Coordination will have its half of its funding retained. This retains the principle of local area coordination in the area and the exact details of how it will be delivered still need to be worked out. Important issues on Equality Impact Assessments were raised and we will report more on this later. Local councillors are to be congratulated for listening to the voices of people with disabilities and going against the advice of council officials.
