No one wants to "pitch up the need pyramid"

But council work brings “a different set of pressures, because you’re dealing with the complexity and messiness of people’s difficult, chaotic lives. And you’re much more locally accountable for what you do.” Zina Ethridge, Haringey Chief Executive 22nd March 2018, Local Government forum website

My experience, in just the last few weeks alone, of the delivery of the local authorities services is that they appear to be unable to deliver in a timely way.  This is not just about the 'Blue Badge Blues' where I write about the (continued) failure to deliver a Blue Badge in a timely way, but I have also documented this week's trials and tribulations in "How on earth was that allowed to happen?" about the long running saga (since 2015) of applying for and using a Disabled Facilities Grant, administered by Haringey, to make adaptions to our home.

The impact on my family of no blue badge is that we cannot physically access essential services, using our own wheelchair adapted vehicle, such as the hospital or the shops, because we drive a super large car that has a ramp and we need the very big space provided by a Blue Badge parking bay to get our son, in his wheelchair, into and out of the car, without wasting our limited and pressured resources of time and money. We recently used London Black Cabs to go to hospital appointments at North Middlesex and Great Ormond Street. For a third appointment,  I just pushed his wheelchair the mile or so to and from the special needs dentist at Tynemouth Road. The consequences to us are a financial cost at a time when our own financial pressures are worsening; time when we are caring 24/7 AND running multiple jobs to make ends meet and lastly social isolation that comes from being physically able to  get out and we have less free time to get out and about.

The impact of the building works not being completed in a timely way is that we now have to de-camp the family again, at additional cost and inconvenience to us at a time that is just months away from our eldest child sitting their GCSE's - when they deserve not to have to put up with difficulties and chaos created by the ineptitude of the local authority.  I am greatly concerned about that and  the chaos caused by these disruptions will have on their exam results, their future, their prospects of going to the 6th form college of their choosing, to study the subjects they want to study, to get on in life - to not "pitch up the need pyramid".

“Looking forward, our strategy has to be about strengthening families and communities, and ensuring that people can access early help so they don’t pitch up the ‘need pyramid’,” she says. “We need to get into a much more positive conversation about supporting people’s independence rather than meeting deficiencies.”  Zina Ethridge, Haringey Chief Executive 22nd March 2018, Local Government forum website

In this instance, my families needs have not been met due to systemic delays, poor communication from the local authority and it's officers an agents, inadequate surveying and assessment of needs, lack of appropriate information gathering and dissemination, ultimately the failure of support systems that are required to deliver firstly a blue badge and secondly the appropriate adaptions to a property using the Disabled Facilities Grant

This is not  a personal fight between individuals where all kinds of things get thrown into it, and it becomes a very toxic debate  (Zina Ethridge, Haringey Chief Executive 22nd March 2018, Local Government forum website) this is about a local authority where the systems to support people who do not want to 'pitch up the need pyramid' are not working in a timely way, and delivering what a reasonable person might think reasonable to expect.

With no leave from work left, and because of the chaos and disruption caused by the local authorities failings, our independence is being threatened because our livelihoods are being put in jeopardy.  The never ending fight, record keeping, patience and fortitude required to get through these 'labours of Hercules' would wear away the resilience (and cohesion) of any family - no matter how 'strong' they are. 

And that's my week in a blog.