The barefaced lies of Haringey Council
- By Brian Leveson
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- 13 Sep, 2023
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I have received some barefaced lies from Haringey Council Adult Social Care in response to a photograph I published online and the media interest it generated
Summary
That is my 18 year old son, Zack lying on the floor outside of our bathroom where I change him and dress him. This is because our Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) adaptions are not yet completed.
In 2012, when our son was seven years old, we first asked Haringey for help in our home to care for him as he is paraplegic, and there has been delay after delay including bullying behaviour from council officers, a report from the Local Government Ombudsman, parts stolen from storage, no communication, us giving evidence to Adult Scrutiny Panel, more delays and broken agreements.
Where we are now is council officers are telling barefaced lies to us and the Council Leader, Peray Ahmet and trying to blame us for the delays.
And I am going to show you below were they are lying and how they are lying.
In 2012, when our son was seven years old, we first asked Haringey for help in our home to care for him as he is paraplegic, and there has been delay after delay including bullying behaviour from council officers, a report from the Local Government Ombudsman, parts stolen from storage, no communication, us giving evidence to Adult Scrutiny Panel, more delays and broken agreements.
Where we are now is council officers are telling barefaced lies to us and the Council Leader, Peray Ahmet and trying to blame us for the delays.
And I am going to show you below were they are lying and how they are lying.
The delays
In addition to the delays I blogged about in 2019 (How on earth was that allowed to happen? (difficultparent.com)) and further delays were reported in 2021 by Local Government Ombudsman in his report Family of disabled boy left without housing adaptations because of council delay. The adaptions were due to be completed in February 2022, but some of the parts had disappeared from storage and in November 2021 there was an issue with the flooding in the bathroom which I blogged about in my blog "My house smells of wee".
In Easter 2022, most of the adaptions were FINALLY done, but the contractor from the council said he was unable do the work in the bathroom because of the flooding. I asked him to email me about this. We heard nothing.
In September 2022, we gave evidence to Councillor Pippa Connor, Chair of Adult Scrutiny Panel. At this point we were contacted by interim head of department Janet Bradbury who we discussed the issues with.
Again, we heard nothing until Spring 2023. On 4th April 2023 we had a visit from Haringey Occupational Therapist WB, in attendance was a representative of the housing association. The meeting was very comprehensive and lasted one and a half hours. We were all in agreement with how we would move forward, with the housing association agreeing to costs related to the flooring and any additional costs that can be attributed to them.
In Easter 2022, most of the adaptions were FINALLY done, but the contractor from the council said he was unable do the work in the bathroom because of the flooding. I asked him to email me about this. We heard nothing.
In September 2022, we gave evidence to Councillor Pippa Connor, Chair of Adult Scrutiny Panel. At this point we were contacted by interim head of department Janet Bradbury who we discussed the issues with.
Again, we heard nothing until Spring 2023. On 4th April 2023 we had a visit from Haringey Occupational Therapist WB, in attendance was a representative of the housing association. The meeting was very comprehensive and lasted one and a half hours. We were all in agreement with how we would move forward, with the housing association agreeing to costs related to the flooring and any additional costs that can be attributed to them.
Where WE thought we were
What we can fairly say about WB was HE WAS very thorough and we had comprehensive notes from him in emails to us and the housing association these are helpful to demonstrate that Janet Bradbury is lying in a letter she sent to us and copied in Council Leader Peray Ahmet.
Agreed Adaptions
This is the drawing of the agreed adaptions as a result of the meeting between ourselves, the Haringey OT and the housing association following the hour and a half meeting between all 3 parties.
Email showing how the 'legal' issue relating to the flooding was to be dealt with
An agreement was finalised in writing through email and phone calls between ourselves and WB (the OT) and the Housing Association between 2nd and 20th June 2023.
- The housing association did not want to project manage the works and told the OT this on the 2nd June and to that end the OT agreed to remove them from correspondence to ensure that there was no confusion as to the part they would play in these building works, save for seeking permissions from the housing association should the plan change
- The housing association will fund the flooring (materials and installation) on receipt of an invoice although it will be wise to submit a copy of the quote
- Given the possibility that the works may unearth repair works relevant to the past leaks. Should this arise, again a dialogue about the costs for this may be required between the Haringey Adaptations Team and the housing association. Any issues with repairs that may arise will be investigated and of course, if they are part of the landlord obligations, the housing association agree will have no option but to repair .
And now the lies in reply from Haringey Council
"The proposal to meet in person appeared appropriate as you feel the delays are attributed to the council".
So what? If I want to pursue this feeling I will do so through the complaints process - GET ON WITH THE AGREED WORKS!
So, we meet again to do what?
Should we meet with these liars and clowns AGAIN to FURTHER delays the adaption when an agreement is already in place?
Redacted email between housing association (comments in red) and Haringey's OT (comments in black) sent on 20th June 2023 - the last we knew of this.
At no point have we been asked about who should project manage the works - until Janet Bradbury made this up as an excuse for Haringey's delays.
Redacted email between housing association (comments in red) and Haringey's OT (comments in black) sent on 20th June 2023 - the last we knew of this.
At no point have we been asked about who should project manage the works - until Janet Bradbury made this up as an excuse for Haringey's delays.
Do YOU feel the years and years and years of delays are attributable to the council?
The week following this confirmation from the housing association, the Haringey OT, WB, called on 27th June 2023. In this call there was no indication whatsoever that we need to do anything
whatsoever with regards to the this matter. WB called us about another unrelated delay in some other adaptions relating to our sons bed. WB also told us he was leaving as Haringey had decided not to renew his contract.
The 'delay' that Haringey are pitifully trying to pin on is about 2 months - over a period of over one and a half years worth of delays that can reasonably be attributed to Haringey.
The details of that 'delay' being that we raised concerns that the housing association were planning to project manage the works on the 2nd June and by 4 hours later the housing association agreed to not to project manage the work, so the OT, WB, had agreed to remove them from the email chain.
Its just lies lies lies that we are responsible for these delays and mis-understandings.
The 'delay' that Haringey are pitifully trying to pin on is about 2 months - over a period of over one and a half years worth of delays that can reasonably be attributed to Haringey.
The details of that 'delay' being that we raised concerns that the housing association were planning to project manage the works on the 2nd June and by 4 hours later the housing association agreed to not to project manage the work, so the OT, WB, had agreed to remove them from the email chain.
Its just lies lies lies that we are responsible for these delays and mis-understandings.
So I said...
Dear Janet Bradbury,
I think you are being very misleading and the 'confusion' is being driven by you. In particular your assertions that
- We have not agreed to the council leading on the project
- There are still issues outstanding
On 2nd June 2023 the housing association agreed to not lead on the works as noted in emails and phone calls between WB and the housing association and WB and myself:
- I stated that I had concerns about the housing association leading on the adaptions works at 10.07am
- By 1:33pmthe housing associationhave said that their preference is for the council to project manage the adaptions from start to finish
- At 2:05pm Wbr said "it may be wise to take you out of the email chains moving forwards so there is no confusion aboutthe housing association’s part in the next steps and we will of course update you once the plan to go live is in place and of course seek permissions where required should any element of the plan change significantly (unlikely to be required).
In addition, the following has been agreed (see email fromthe housing associationat 11:08am on Tuesday 20th June 2023, their responses are in bold)
As agreed there are 2 issues to iron out:
A In the site meeting, you indicated thatthe housing association will fund the flooring (materials and installation). This work can be led on via the wider project, but a side discussion perhaps required as to how the payment is arranged. The housing associationwill pay on receipt of an invoice although it will be wise to submit a copy of the quote.
B In the discussion, I raised the possibility that the works may unearth repair works relevant to the past leaks. Should this arise, again a dialogue about the costs for this may be required between the Adaptations Team andthe housing association. (I hope and expect this is not a large feature of the wider job, but just for completeness). Any issues with repairs that may arise will be investigated and of course, if they are part of the landlord obligations, we will have no option but to repair .
I am asking you again Janet, are these agreements no longer in place?
If you thought SEND was bad - the NHS is seemingly prepared to throw away money to private companies
About 3 or 4 times a year we get the euphemistic message 'Parents please note we have put a letter in your child's bag' - its a world away from how a child's death was handled in my child's first school
More of a trial by ordeal than a well organised clearly set out administrative process for moving the care of vulnerable young adults from Haringey's Children's Services to Adult Services. We have been failed at every stage of the process.
Never EVER get on the bus without a camera running if you need the priority wheelchair space
The reality of using a London Bus in the teeming rain on a Sunday afternoon is no joke when the parents of a paraplegic person in a wheelchair clash with the self-entitled buggy-pushing parents of toddlers.
Haringey SEND Transport are insisting that a 17 year old minibus with no air conditioning is a suitable vehicle to transport my paraplegic son in this heatwave. The appalling conditions inside the minibus inside the bus is something they knew about last summer, yet they have to date done nothing whatsoever provide a suitable minibus this year nor appropriately mitigate the temperatures inside the minibus.The conditions inside the minibus are so bad that they triggered multiple seizures during the heatwave as my son has epilepsy, which they SEND transport department know about and they also know that they are triggered by heat.It is not just son who is impacted: last year we know of one child who died on Haringey SEND Transport in the summer heatwave and another who had seizures.
I am simply asking a question - are we all absolutely certain that the road closure / travel restrictions (commonly know as LTNs) placed on some of the most severely disabled people who are wholly reliant on cars are absolutely necessary
Haringey's road closures exemptions policy for disabled people is not fit for purpose, unduly burdensome and intrusive - it's time to stand up against the pro-LTN lycra-clad cycling bullies
Is the argument for and against exemptions for disabled people in Low Traffic Neighbourhoods really a case of GOOD versus EVIL?
Letters from Labour Grandees and survey results from Haringey Council show people who opposed LTNs are women, elderly and disabled. Yet Peray Ahmet has described anti-LTN people as homophobic, islamophobic, sexist, racist and xenophobic.
