Warden cuts: you think you're going to save money?

At a particularly vile Barnet council cabinet meeting tonight (apt, given what happened at Westminster this afternoon), the Tory administration decided to have another go at axing the sheltered housing residential wardens.

Of course, they say, the decision is not prejudged and they are going to consult widely - having full regard to all the relevant disability discrimination legislation that they fell foul of when they tried to make the cuts last year.

The funny thing is, the council sees this as a way to save money when the wardens are, in fact, a pretty cost-effective way to help elderly people to live independent lives. Many more elderly people than do could, if they felt bloody minded enough, ask to be assessed for care packages that would cost the council far more money than the £300,000 per year it expects to save by cutting the wardens.

This evening I found out that sheltered housing residents' lawyer Yvonne Hossacks is looking into doing just that: putting in for full care assessments for the residents who will be deprived of their warden if the cuts go ahead.

Here's what she has told the council: "we will be sending you the first tranche of requests for community care assessments and look for your confirmation that these will be carried out as part of your Equality Impact Assessment. Please note that we consider your estimate of community care needs if the warden service is reduced to be wildly underestimated."

P.S. Tories lie about their recommendations.

A small, cross-party team of councillors had been tasked to look into the different options for "remodelling" sheltered housing. At the Cabinet meeting tonight the Tories told us that the group's final recommendations were unanimous. I spoke to Labour councillor Claire Farrier afterwards, who told me that the report was passed "unanimously" only because the meeting that did it was deliberately organised at a time that she and the other Labour councillor, Gill Sergeant, could not make.

Seconds out, round two, Or: The sheltered housing wardens battle rejoined

There's a great article in the Barnet Press today, "Residents promise to do battle once more to save homes wardens". It features David Young of the UK Pensioners Strategy Committee, based here in Barnet.

Dave says:

“Barnet Council, under the leadership of Lynne Hillan, is putting sheltered homes – and not only in Barnet – at high risk.

“It is going ahead with its plans to remove wardens from sheltered homes, and councils across the UK will be watching Barnet closely.

“If, God forbid, Barnet succeeds, other councils will follow and it could mean the demise of sheltered homes along with the wardens throughout the UK.

“We will not weaken. Everyone here is getting nervous, but we won’t roll over – our solicitor will be challenging this.”

Sachin Rajput, cabinet member for adult services, says:

“We need to look at the ways in which we are providing services and ensure we are providing them in a fair way – it will be extremely challenging.

“...My personal view is that we should spend the money that we do have on the people with the greatest need.”

What, such as elderly people, do you mean, Mr Rajput?

A blow on the sheltered housing front - the law is an ass

I haven't reported on this much before now, as I did not want to give heart to our enemies, but there has been a setback in the fight to defend sheltered housing wardens. Yvonne Hossacks, the lawyer representing many of the residents battling the loss of their wardens, has been turned down for much of the Legal Aid money used to fight the cases.

This was done on a small technicality. Yvonne appealed but the appeal has been rejected. Many of the residents had written to the authorities to plead for a second chance, but that has been ignored. Here is an extract from one of their petitions:

The residents of rented Sheltered Housing are, by definition of being in rented accommodation, not rich, indeed, it is said, that 75% of them are in receipt of benefits. Apart from their age, average 75, with many in their 80s, it seems discriminatory to reject their applications on the basis of a single fault made by the applying solicitor office in filling in the Legal Aid forms. No human is so perfect [as] not to make typographical mistakes, and you have at your disposal Tippex, copiers, telephones, fax machines and the internet to discuss, and correct, trival errors with their originators.

Your rejection, I believe, fails to take into account Legal Aid is not about whether a dot, or a comma is in the correct place in an application form, but is to do with making possible equality before law, for the less financially able persons in society.

...You will appreciate that this effectively could remove legal protection in this matter, for up to 500,000 people living in Sheltered Housing. The knock on effect is that these people may now become legally 'out of time' to bring their actions and they will have been dealt a disservice.

The situation these residents find themselves in is that Wardens from Sheltered Housing are often withdrawn, or their hours of duty changed, against the wishes of the residents and without the consultation(s) required by Housing Law. (Our national statistics show that 97% of the residents of Sheltered Housing only moved in because 'it had a Warden'). In short it appears to have been foreseen that the elderly could be treated in this way because the Housing Providers had assessed that
they could get away with it, by reason of their victims' age and lack of financial resources and lack of expertise in Housing Law!

Yvonne's view has always been that the legal case is what can win, the political campaign creates a better atmosphere for the legal case to succeed by worrying councils, and giving heart to the residents who are fighting. It seems that the focus must shift to the political campaign now. In that case, gird up your loins, because Barnet, like other councils, will surely shift back on to the front foot in this matter.

Barnet sheltered housing reprieve: how the news is received - the legal cost - implications for Future Shape

In early January Kingsley Court residents celebrated their
High Court victory with lawyer Yvonne Hossacks

David Young and his fellow Kingsley Court residents are celebrating, now it has been confirmed that Barnet will not appeal the High Court judgement against its decision to cut sheltered housing wardens, although lawyer Yvonne Hossacks is more cautious. Read Times series reports here and here.

The Times also has an article about the legal cost of Barnet council's defence at judicial review of their decision - £23,000. The council is setting aside £5 million to fight legal battles next year. (Check figure - it's enormous!)

The implications for the council's Future Shape programme are possibly huge. The council will have to carry out far more rigorous Equalities Impact Assessments in the light of the legal ruling. This, in turn, could make the savings they hope to achieve from their various Future Shape plans so small that they decide it is not worth the political flak to go ahead with some of them. Well, I can dream.

Sheltered housing residents win in court

Read a report on the Times series website here.

The decisions by Barnet and Portsmouth councils to cut the wardens from sheltered housing schemes was taken without proper regard to the rights of the residents under the Disability Discrimination Act.

Judge Milwyn Jarman QC said:

“neither authority in my judgement had any or sufficient regard to such an impact upon those residents with disabilities as a separate group or to the need to recognise that the taking into account of those disabilities may involve treating disabled persons more favourably than others.”

According to the Times:

Solicitor for the claimants, Yvonne Hossack, said: “We're absolutely delighted for all the people of Barnet who have been affected by this.

“Luckily it will mean a happier Christmas for them.”

Congratulations to everyone who has taken part in the campaign to save the wardens. No doubt vigilance and more political campaigning will be needed as Barnet council shows no signs of being ready to be corrected, and will probably appeal the decision.

Guardian report of the decision here, linking it to the whole easyCouncil project.

Day of righteousness part 1: Yvonne Hossacks

Yvonne Hossacks, campaigning solicitor on behalf of sheltered housing residents fighting the threat to their wardens, has won her solicitors disciplinary tribunal.

No more detail on the case but the following website will show you how much Yvonne is appreciated by her clients: www.shelteredhousinguk.com.

Yah boo sucks to those local authorities who have tried to shut her up by taking out complaints against her and trying to end her career.

Stay of execution for Barnet's sheltered housing wardens

Barnet council's plans to remove the wardens from sheltered housing schemes in the borough are on hold as campaigners have won an injunction. Read all about it here in the Guardian.

Congratulations to Yvonne Hossacks' team and the indomitable sheltered housing residents of Barnet who are not giving in easily.

Stick up for thorns in the side of the establishment!

Congratulations to Roger Tichborne for his victory against Barnet mayor Brian Coleman. I haven't done justice to Roger's triumph because I've been having a difficult time at home, too dreary to detail. But it really cheered me up this evening to read all about Roger's victory on his blog (look for the other posts on this as well).

Another thorn in the side of the complacent Tory councillors of Barnet (and other local authorities and parties) is Yvonne Hossacks, who has won a stay of execution for Barnet's sheltered housing wardens. She faces a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal next week, following complaints made against her by various councils. Sheltered housing residents in Barnet who have benefited from Yvonne's support in their campaign to save their wardens have written this letter asking for people to go and support her:

Solicitor Yvonne Hossacks needs your help at Court Tribunal

12/09/09

Dear Tenants,

Solicitor Yvonne Hossacks is being taken to court by several councils who want her struck off for trying to save the wardens. The reasons are

1) Improperly encouraging clients to court politicians and media
2) Not acting in the client’s best interests
3) Making too many time consuming and costly applications to the councils

All ridiculous, I hope you agree!

The Tribunal is on the 14th, 15th and 16th September at 3rd Floor, Gate House, 1 Farringdon Street EC4M 7NS.

There will be a protest at the court to support Yvonne each morning from 9-9.30am to let the court know how much we appreciate what she is doing for us. We cannot provide transport, but hope you will be able to attend the protest.

Yours Sincerely,

Mrs Betty Martin,
Co Chairperson,
UK Pensioners Strategy Committee,
Email: ukpensioners@googlemail.com