Hi everyone,
I don’t get online much these days so have seen a few names on here that I don’t recognise - and a few that I do! Hello to all 
As above, really - has anyone discovered a magic formula for getting people (and by people I mean generally anyone working for a local authority) to do their job properly? Follow procedure, write a factually accurate report, meet deadlines (or at least let you know they’re behind) or just generally treat you like an adult and take your situation seriously?
I did pretty much everything for my son myself throughout his childhood after falsely being accused of having MSBP when he was small. I home educated him, drove him 200 miles a week to various clubs and sports groups for disabled kids, put in twenty hour days because he didn’t sleep well and generally worked myself into the ground to make sure his needs were met.
As he’s got older his needs have increased and my health has suffered, so it became clear quite a while ago that I couldn’t keep doing it all myself. We spent five years with NHS doctors trying to get to the root of his increasing difficulties before I just gave up in frustration at getting nowhere with them. We’ve spent the last twenty months trying to get a properly written and implemented EHCP in place - absolute joke. He’s enjoying college and the staff there are lovely but they can only provide what’s funded. We had a huge battle to get assessments done in the first place, then another battle to get them written up properly, battled again to get that into a plan, went to Tribunal and won, only for the LA to ignore the court anyway. Made another complaint and they have arranged for one item to be sorted but we’re still waiting for everything else. College is only 24 hours a week so I still do 144 hours term time and 168 during the holidays.
I literally spend all of my time chasing people up, writing complaints, correcting reports, checking people have got things they’re supposed to have and so on. I write up and/or send in information before appointments, always make it clear I have copies of everything at home and can provide anything needed. I spend my life explaining my son’s needs, in detail, with clear examples and confirmation via reports so that it’s clear there is proof that he has those needs. And yet still, every time he has an assessment, he’s miraculously cured! Suddenly his disabilities evaporate, or he just needs a little bit of extra guidance (he gets Enhanced Rate PIP for care and mobility and PIP seems to be hard to get now so if they’re satisfied he has significant needs surely everyone else should be?).
Which brings me back to my question - has anyone found a way of making them do the job properly the first time? No-one seems to start taking notice of procedure or process until a complaint goes in - has anyone found a way of just getting them to do it properly the first time instead of putting everyone through this endless fiasco? I don’t want to be the person who goes in all guns blazing from the outset but I just haven’t got the energy to keep fighting them all the time. Has anyone found a miracle way forward?
x