My sons daycare centre seems to make rules up as they go along . He has been attending 3 days a week for 16 yrs . When he first started the times were 9 am - 4pm it had a nice canteen were the attendees could buy a hot meal , they also had days out in the community . In the last few years its changed so much . They started to close at 3.30 then 3.15 now its 3pm . There is no canteen or days out and the building is run down . I was wondering if this is happening elsewhere? Staff seemed to spend more time in the office, there is no-one on the desk to welcome the atendees in or when they are picked up . I take him and pick him up myself so see whats happening. This centre is the only one in our area and although not ideal it has been run down and the staff decide when to close . They recieve payments from the county council . I am annoyed that they think this is all our adult kids are worth .
I spoke to a manager who said it was above her paygrade to explain why things have changed ??. She said it was covid ?? they closed to attendies for nearly 2 years , we had no support except zoom singing which my son cannot do , or a call to ask if we were ok , but they didnt really want an answer ,
They all recieved full pay and a bonus at the end . Has anyone noticed a change in daycare services in thier area . Im not sure if there is many adults still living at home on this site , my son is 39 this September. There is no sign that it will get back to were it was and staff dont seem to want it too .
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Tracidu
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Hi my so me day centre is the same when he started it was free now he has to pay £ 300 a month it used to open at 9 and close at 4 now it's 9.30 to 3pm the staff hardly ever speak to the parents his keyworker has changed numerous times and we haven't been informed it seems like they are just babysitters
Sadly the day centre my daughter attended from 2016 -2022 closed last month, and its closure which was announced in 2021 was the reason why we brought forward her going into supported living. She began living in supported living in July last year when she was age 27 & was allowed to remain at the day centre during a transition period until last November. Her last day was a sad day, reminding me of her last day in school in 2014.When she started attending in 2016 there were about 20 service users, but only 5 remained by last November, as all others had found placements in other community settings. The last one who had been there the longest was last to leave in May. It has felt extremely upsetting as the 5 who remained on my daughters last day were those who required day care most. She enjoyed walks into town, and local parks / attractions, as well as regular trips out to zoos, country parks, theme parks and so forth with her key worker. There was also a lovely sensory garden for her to enjoy . She would take a packed lunch, or go out for lunch to a cafe or pub.
After the closure announced that staff would start leaving as they got other jobs, that included our daughter's key worker, which was gutting.
Our council even before covid had earmarked closure of at least 8 day centres within the area, and despite many parents and carers writing to the powers that be to protest, the closure was confirmed last September.
The day centre was her happy place, close to city centre, and although she got assisted transport every day to the centre, it was within walking distance for me, so I could call in if in town to see how she was doing. Even after she had to leave we would often call in on a Friday for a drink. My daughter would have no idea that this was just a visit, and would sit in her normal chair on arrival.
The closure also resulted in both her driver and escort bringing forward early retirement, and her key worker changing direction to work in day care with under 5's.
I have no idea why day centres across the country should be closing or their services run down, but my guess it is due to money, and those who make these decisions in our "children's best interests" having no idea what is best to meet their needs.
Thankyou both for your replys . I am so sorry to read this . Why are the powers that be doing this to our kids? , it makes me so angry . If my sons daycare closes im afraid residential care is on the cards witch will be very expensive for the council and very traumatic for us both , but I cannot cope without daycare . He needs to be with other people even though its not an ideal place . He seems to enjoy it .
I know someone whos placement is £6000 a week.
Horrendous I know, but I have broken it down to approx £35 an hour for 24 hr care . . My son needs 24 hr 1-1 care in a safe environment . Its going to be a fight.
I cant understand how charities are not raising this ?. , Mencap cancelled my son Saturday support a couple of years ago as he was not in thier area ?? 20minute away ? , even though he had been with them for 10 years .? A new uncaring manager took over and she didnt care or have any empathy on what her decision was doing to us . I have not been able to find suitable support so every weekend he is home with me . . I am a 70 year old unpaid carer.
Best interest is just words .!! Unpaid carers week which was last week meant nothing to me again all talk , No one cares as far as I am concerned about the mental and physical stress all this causes .
I feel so much quilt that Im not giving my son the best life possible and feel so sad for him . the thought of his daycare closeing is another door shut for him .
I send my best wishes to you both and thanks again for reading my post , sorry for the rant , I thought it was only us going through this .
It is horrendous that due to you being over retirement age that you are not able to claim carers allowance. I am fortunate as I am still 5 years off retirement and can still claim carers allowance as I only work 13 hours per week over 2 days, and I am still providing over 35 hours per week of care for my daughter, both personal when at home and admin etc throughout week.Is your son social or health funded? You say it costs £300 for his day care? As my daughter comes under health we have never incurred this cost. Personally I don't think any one should. Only cost was for activities, and meals out, which I would send £20 per week in on a Monday along with pads wipes suncream etc. There was always money over so that her key worker could obtain season passes for the zoo and other activity centres. I think we were lucky with her key worker as she enjoyed trips out as much as my daughter. As long as we provided suitable clothing and footwear a little bit of rain or snow didn't keep her in. What a miss when it all came to an end. I am afraid her supported living staff, although they get her out most days, it is much more limited to short walks, to cafes a disco and the odd trip out when transport available. This is the main reason we bring her home to us for long weekends to take her on trips out.
Hi I think it was pogdog who said they paid £300 for daycare ? My sons is payed direct to the centre from the county council , I am not sure how much they charge now but I know its a lot as he has 1-1 support which I dont. think he gets inside the centre ? He does not get health care funding. Iam not definate that its shutting but reading other posts on the way thier centre was run down before closeing it seems its happening at my sons daycare. ?
I have wrote to my Mp about various things over the years and always fill out surveys and petitions for unpaid carers and learning disabled people , sometimes I recieve a generic letter from the house of commons which comes across as they have no plans to change anything and they tell.me how much money they have put into social care , ??? My sons Daycentre is run by a private company and the socialcare or council. have no say in the times they run or the state of the building . The council have no building based care .
Carers allowance stops when you recieve the state pension . I have never been able to save for a private pension due to 24/7, care for my son , my husband worked to support us but has passed away now and had no privatre pension .. I recieve a very small amount of the carers pension credit wich is no were near CA with my state pension .
so sorry to hear about your issues with day care services etc....... have you tried contacting your local MP and raising with them on your behalf? Just thought this could be a solution and something I have done myself
It doesn't really help to write to MPs. The government has no real strategy, so many residential places and supported living places are shutting down for lack of clients/users. Whilst, Local Authorities, are deterring parents/carers with fewer options, and additional costs. They too, are suffering from smaller budgets and more demand.
As a parent/carer I am livid, that decent client-friendly places are closing, because councils cannot afford to place people/users there.
My council asked my son's provider to cut the staff costs. Good staff are hard to find, once gone difficult to replace. Inexperienced staff, often don't stay, adding to the users anxiety. They also need regular training and to build experience, passion is not enough.
At the moment, we can't get enough users, where my son is, and I worry about what's going to happen next.
Thankyou for reply . Its a constant worry about the future for my son and probably many other parent/ carers. I have visited a few places lately and it shocked me to see these places . I drove home in tears . Im not a dramatic person but the worry of his future can be overwhelming at times .
I don’t think yours is an isolated incident Tracidu. There used to be 3 day centres in our area but now there’s only one, they call it day opportunities. It closed during covid and then re opened but only offered 2 days for people who originally attended for 5 days and the hours have been reduced as well. My son has been in a supported living environment for almost 20 years, he has a single person flat alongside 9 others, mainly people he went to school or day centre with. he has multiple complex learning and physical disabilities and autism. and his day centre attendance has been reduced over the years from 5 days to just one day a week. This was after myself, his key worker and a long standing member of day centre staff realised the day centre wasn’t really doing anything for him other than ‘joining mainstream’ or ‘watching a film’ neither of which were of interest to my son. We’re awaiting another assessment to have his remaining one day attendance cancelled and the funding stream transferred over to his care provider. My son has a small team of support staff and between us have devised a weekly activities timetable including meals out, theatre visits, day trips and activities at home with his neighbours if the weather is bad. He has lots more going on that is better suited to his needs than he had at his day centre which appears to have become more like an adult crèche where one size fits all. I realise my son’s situation is different to yours but the day centre problems seem to be similar across the country and it’s such a worry to see this vital service slowly disappear. I wish you and your son well.
Thankyou redsails . I was very interested to read your story about your sons care , it sounds good and I hope he is happy . . I agree with what you say about day care and I have never found it ideal but after years of trying to get my son settled and he seems happy going there its very worrying when things change especially when there is nothing else in our area . . His daycare used to be run differently and had fairly good management but its all changed . They seem to be running it into the ground which is worrying . Thanks again for your reply . I wish you both well too
It's all about funding..... We've had a similar experience with the day centre that our adult son has attended for two days a week for about 15 or more years.
When he first started attending volunteer drivers would collect him and drop him home as we didn't live within walking distance. There was a great range of activities on offer and on one day he was part of a gardening group that used to go by minibus to a nearby National Trust kitchen garden or to some allotments and maintain paths and grow some veggies. On the other day he was doing some woodwork skills and making bird boxes etc that were for sale. He loved both those activities.
Then the transport was withdrawn. Then everything closed down for Covid. After re-opening the hours were shorter because of all the cleaning they had to to (perfectly acceptable), but have now increased slightly, though not back to the original hours. Then they decided to merge two local day centres together to save on running costs, and it was our nearest one that closed so now his home support staff have to drive him 8 miles away and collect him afterwards. They don't appear to do any activities other than 'go for a walk' around the town in a big group or stay at the base for some very basic craft activities if the weather is wet or cold. When the weather was extremely hot last summer they suggested he didn't attend because he doesn't like sitting indoors all day with nothing to do!
There is clearly a problem with recruiting good staff, we know from recent experience with the home support team that the local authority won't pay the going rate, and we recently met with our local MP to put the case that the Government need to increase funding (instead of cutting it, which is happening at the moment) for social care in the community. We didn't get a positive response.
So sorry to read this . It seems like the same thing happening here . The council has moved 2 other groups into the daycentre . Elderly care as thier daycentre was closed to be turned into something else , and also clients with profound disabilities but staffing hasnt increased so trips out are not happening anymore , canteen was run by an outside agency were some of the clients worked ..,all that has gone . Its all very sad . Thanks for your reply
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