I am in the process of requesting some additional funding through Direct Payments so my daughter can attend day care at a new place. I have provided a lot of evidence that shows why this would benefit her and meet her needs and be an improvement to what she currently has in place for that particular day. At present, she is taken out and about by her PA and they visit a farm, zoo or maybe shop etc. This is ok but I want her to have a building based activity so the weather does not affect the day and also I want her to have more interaction and be occupied for the day as this can be difficult with her learning disabilities. The place I want her to attend would do this and more. She could also have respite there later on if it works out. It is, of course, not cheap and costs more than the current support with her PA.
I am having difficulties getting responses from her social worker about where we are with the process. She has had meetings with managers and she has mentioned about it will have to go to a panel as my daughter's care package is already classed as ' high cost'. It seems to me they are delaying the process with meetings being postponed and managers still discussing it. I feel like they are not being transparent about it. I have asked her to send me details of how the process should work and the statutory time limits that they should be following but have not had a response as yet.
I started the request about 2 months ago when I first provided the social worker with the costs of the new place so it's been going on since then.
Can anyone tell me if they know the process and the time limits for such processes or where I might be able to get this information please?