lack of support.

[Predator31]

Hi, my name is Jeff. I work for a charity organisation as a support worker and I support an individual with autism. He is nonverbal and has a lot of difficulties. I have been searching far and wide for support for him but no luck. He is into dance, singing and sports. We are in the Liverpool area. Can anybody please provide some type of advice or organisations if they know any which are under the radar or something as I’ve tried all I can and nothing please and thank you 🙏

[Jofisher]

Try your local voluntary service as they work with loads of organisations and charities and contact your local council and speak to their L.D. Worker there or they maybe under arts ask help point at the council.good luck

[49Twister in reply to Jofisher]

Contact your local carers centre they will have contacts of all activities, clubs etc appropriate for either children or adults with autism.

[Actor000]

Hi there, sorry to hear to of your situation, its like listening to an echo reading your story, as we are in exactly the same situation, narrowing all this down as time has elapsed it has become clear now that the number 1 factor in our area which is Wigan is........wage structure, of which Wigan now is well down at the bottom of the list for independent supported living.

One of the major factors within this is that since lockdown was lifted and people are heading back into the work place many many people (am talking thousands) had a good long hard look at what pay there were on as a carer and have realised that they now can earn £ 2 to £25.0 more per hour working at for example Aldi and Lidl than they can as a carer, without the responsibility of supporting a vulnerable person, we can go 3 miles over the border in to Bolton and the rate goes to 11 per hour as oppose to 9.50 per hour where we are. and taking into consideration that there are around 65 thousand vacancies for care support in North West and north England alone, and countrywide 170.000 vacancies which tells us there needs to be a complete overhaul of pay structure. As it seems people are just not going back into the care industry the way things are at present.

[HolisticMum in reply to Actor000]

You are so right. Who wants all that responsibility of caring and helping out people with disabilities for low wages. That's why there's hardly any quality people out there. I think the Agencies who send people out don't know much either like stimulating someone's mind, keeping them happy and tuning into their feelings. We're in London and my son gets a small budget and I do the admin work because that way more money to spend on his helpers. The Council have stated I'm paying them too much at £15ph but these people have worked for us over 15 years so I'm not going to keep them on the minimum wage am I. Social Services are not very flexible, they are not forthcoming with ideas. They only want the cheapest. A previous Director said we could pay them a decent rate even if we wanted less hours so that is what I do. The new people now running the Social Services don't want this type of working. They sold us this Self Directed Support in 2010 when they were wanting the parents to take on the budget. There was a lot of scope for the budget then, now every year, for the past 5 years or more all they want is the cheapest helpers and can't pay out for any activities. It's all very limiting for parents. I give my free labour doing all the work and then they want a 'contribution' towards 'care costs'. I feel conned and very limited as to what we can do. Wish you all the best getting the right help.

[MontyCat]

Hi. If you have access to a device and the internet and the person you support is prepared to join virtual sessions, rather than attend face-to-face groups, there is a charity called Click who offer lots of different activities via Zoom. Their website address is clicktogether.co.uk/