My name’s Saeed and since August I’ve been campaigning with Sense and other families caring for disabled adults, calling on government to reintroduce the community services that stopped as a result of the pandemic.
The pandemic has had a devastating impact on social care and the people who rely on it. At Sense, our Forgotten Families campaign has revealed that a third (34%) of families with a disabled loved one still have not had any care or support reinstated since lockdown has been lifted. The Government has received considerable criticism from the press and Parliament for how it has handled support for social care. As a result, Government has released a new plan for the winter which sets out how social care will get the funding and resources it needs. What does this mean for Sense and the people we support?
Through our Forgotten Families campaign we’ve been highlighting the experience of Jane’s family, who’ve been struggling to support their 20-year-old daughter Faith throughout the pandemic without support. But we know Jane and Faith aren’t the only family dealing with the devastating impact of having their support withdrawn overnight. Our recent research, showed that 75% of those who had support withdrawn didn’t receive any warning before this happened, and a third of families are still waiting for any support to be reinstated.