LA cancelling Day Service due to Transport issue

[Oto3]

Hi All,

My daughter is placed in a supported living and attending a day service 3 days a week. LA and we agreed that the place she is at meets her needs the best and she is enjoying her time at the day service. Recently the commute to and from the day service has become problematic due to a distance (20 minutes car ride each way) and a staff shortage at the supported living placement. When we approached the LA with help for transportation, they suggested we should look for closer day service. We searched and visited many day services in the area but found nothing like the day service she is currently attending. Does anyone have any idea how we can resolve this? Any Care Act to protect my daughter's needs and interests to continue attending the current day service?

[Bergersil400]

I know exactly how you feel as we have a similar situation. When our daughter moved into her supported living flat last July, I was led to believe that she could remain at day care with transport via a taxi with escort for at least 3 days per week. Her day centre was 20 minutes drive away which is her home town. It was due for closure but we were told by her continuing health care team that once closure happened she could access support with a taxi from a day centre within the area her supported living is.Anyway as soon as she moved in they changed it to a transition period meaning her day centre provision with taxi was for 4 months starting with 3 days and gradually decreasing until November. When I asked if we could get her provision into another day centre we were told that it was up to her supported living staff to provide a programme of activities for her, which is limited to say the least. Her say centre is now closed sadly.

I would say if the taxi provision is a problem look into seeing if you can apply for a car . Does she receive mobility element of PIP?That way staff should be able to escort her to and from her provision.

Sadly once day care ceases you are relying on staff to provide activities, which will be limited if they won't use their own cars.

We bring our daughter home most weekends Thursday - Sunday to ensure she can access local zoos, parks and football matches.

Hope you can resolve the day care provision but it will be up to the authority you are with who provide the funding.

[Oto3 in reply to Bergersil400]

Thank you very much for taking time and sharing your experience with me. It is frustrating that the day service she is at tick all the boxes for her needs requirement but we, Carers cannot find a way to get her there. The taxi service is suggested unfortunately it leads to a problem of an availability of a staff to escort her twice a day.

[Maurice_Mencap Partner]

Hi Oto3 , that sounds like a really frustrating experience for your daughter. It might be worth giving our Learning Disability Helpline a call on 0808 808 1111 or email [e-mail] to get in touch with one of our trained advisers. They may be able to offer some advice on how to approach challenging the decisions from the local authority. Hope that helps.

[MontyCat]

Hi. Is there a community transport service in your area who may be able to help with transport? They may not be able to guarantee all journeys but might be able to facilitate your daughter attending her preferred day service at least some of the time. Another option might be the Motability scheme (motability.co.uk/) which would provide a vehicle assuming her support staff have adequate hours to drive her to and from sessions. I hope you get this resolved soon. It s so frustrating how local authorities profess to offer "choice and control" but so often try to take that away from people. Good luck.

[Oto3 in reply to MontyCat]

Thank you very much for your kind words. Yes we looked into motability option but a staff availability has become an issue. We may have to hire someone just have a ride with her back and forth to the Day service if we are allowed to use a taxi service.