The consequences of cuts to services often go way beyond the obvious, and have devastating affects on families. The loss of community prevention services in Birmingham will only make things worse in the future. That is why Midland Mencap continue to say #SaveOurSupport

Learn More in this BBC article

We recently attended a disability equality event with Birmingham MP for Yardley Jess Phillips. We joined with Jess in saying to the Government unfair and unjust #NoPIPcuts. At Midland Mencap we remain totally opposed to any cuts in services or welfare benefits that undermine the health, well-being and right to a life for people with a learning disability and all vulnerable citizens affected.

Find out more on the twitter hashtag #NoPIPcuts

There are major problems in funding, recruitment and the capacity of care providers to make ends meet, more evidence that the chronic under-funding of social care will only rebound on vulnerable citizens and good providers, we’re no longer shaping a market, we’re watching it implode.

Read more in this BBC article

Birmingham City Council would like to encourage parents and carers to complete this questionnaire for your children. Your views and feedback are essential to finding new ways to shape and plan future Short Breaks services. The closing date to complete this questionnaire is Thursday 13th April 2017, please find the questionnaire below and have your say!

Short Breaks Questionnaire PDF
Short Breaks Questionnaire Word Document

RETURNING THE QUESTIONNAIRE:

PAPER COPIES:
PLEASE COMPLETE AND RETURN TO YOUR DISTRIBUTOR / PROVIDER.

ELECTRONIC COPIES:
RETURN YOUR COMPLETED QUESTIONNAIRE TO THE FOLLOWING EMAIL ADDRESS:
debbie.harmitt@birmingham.gov.uk

Midland Mencap can help with all kinds of housing issues, from finding the right place to live to ensuring you get the right care and support to meet your daily needs. For more info contact 0121 442 2944 or email info@midlandmencap.org.uk

Guardian article on disability housing

Midland Mencap Response to How Budget Cuts Will Affect Services in Birmingham

Last Tuesday BCC confirmed its budget for 2017/18. As you may know Midland Mencap has been extremely active in the #saveoursupport campaign arguing there should be no cuts to vital support services to vulnerable citizens. Though the Council say they listened to the campaign they still voted through £5m of cuts to the Supporting People programme and Third Sector grant funded services. In 2017/18 they need to cut £3.2m from these budgets with the remaining £1.8m the following year.

Last Friday we were informed by the Council as to how these cuts will be applied. As of 30th September 2017 all Third Sector Grant funded services in Birmingham will be decommissioned. The Council have said these are non-statutory services and therefore they are not legally obliged to fund them. This will ‘save’ the Council £2.4m per annum. The remaining cuts in 2017/18 are expected to be a combination of efficiency savings, claw-back of under utilised SP grant, savings from non-commissioned services & some further decommissioning. Starting on Friday 10th March the Council will commence a 60 day consultation which we, and the #saveoursupport campaign, will actively contribute to. We would urge all those affected by the cuts to complete the consultation which will be on the Council’s website on the Be Heard page, the Council need to hear how these cuts will affect individuals and family careers.

We want to reassure everyone who uses a Midland Mencap service that though this is a devastating decision for vulnerable people in Birmingham we have been working on our plans in anticipation of this decision. All of our existing services will continue to run as they are for now as we look at different ways of ensuring people retain access to vital support.

We will keep everyone updated over the coming months about services, where they are, and how you can use them. Keep in touch with our Facebook page and website, midlandmencap.org.uk, for all the details

Thank you

Dispatches, Under lock and Key:

Following last nights screening of Under Lock and Key we think it’s very important to say things can be different. We absolutely believe that person and family centred approaches to housing, care and support can deliver high quality local outcomes that mean individuals do not need to be in hospitals, alone and separated from their family. We will continue to pursue with commissioners from both the NHS and Social Care opportunities to devise and deliver, in partnership with families, better outcomes for everyone. Millions of pounds per annum could be reinvested in this approach that would offer the individual dignity and choice and save stressed statutory budgets a small fortune over years to come.

To see how we already know things can be different watch the video on our website

Over the course of the February Half Term the Midland Mencap Children and Young Persons service ran 12 sessions delivered at 3 venues and reaching over 100 young people. Our theme for the week was Discovery with the aim that all the children and young people would try or learn something new.

At our venue in Sutton Coldfield we had an inclusive cycling event which was very well received. All our children and young people at the opportunity to ride a bike that was adapted to their needs. Some of these included wheelchair bikes, tandem tricycles and hand powered bikes. Throughout the course of the week they also went swimming, played hockey, enjoyed the cinema, took part in a drama and movement workshop, cooked on outdoor camping trangias and tried an indoor kayaking simulator.

At The Enterprise Hub in Weoley Castle, we had a visit from the Google Expeditions team where we entered the world of virtual reality. Our young people were transported into space one minute then under the sea the next!

At all of our sessions, the children and young people had the chance to do arts and crafts, science experiments, role play with dress up and discovery of sensory activities such as digging for worms and creating fossils!

All the children and staff had a fantastic discovery week and we’re now looking forward to all our upcoming exciting sessions during evenings, weekends and school holidays. If you would like to know more please contact the Children and Young Persons’ Team on 0121 256 1500.