Page 8 - Community Living Magazine 30-3

SoCIAl CAre lAw

CASCAIDr – We won’t play games for their own
sake, of course – we are professionals!
oPenIng tHe We will aim to promote compromise
and cases being settled on suitable
FlooDgAteS terms but we are committed to
helping people enforce their legal rights

to reStore tHe to decent care packages.
CASCAIDr will focus on a selection of
rule oF lAw In fundamental issues in adult social care
law – for example, the cost-capping
PuBlIC SerVICeS of home care, omission to implement
advocacy rights, ignoring the Care Act
guidance and lack of engagement with
Our legal correspondent Belinda Schwehr unveils the why a care plan is even arguably
new charity she is establishing – an idea whose time has suffcient and defensible.
defnitely come. How are we going to

tackle this?
Our unique approach is to use
ommunity Living’s editor governed by the law and sound crowdfunding to support legal
C has generously allowed legal principle. challenges where a barrister has given
me to use my normal space a positive opinion on the merits of the
to publicise my latest venture What will CASCAIDr do? case. Public bodies will not be able to
– a new charity providing CASCAIDr’s primary purpose will be ignore this – they will know we are
legal advice to people stuck to provide free, specialist legal advice serious. Our hope is to reinvigorate the
in wrangles over social care on adult health and social care rights. rule of law within local government,
with their local council or The recipients will be people who before things get worse. A little legal
health service Clinical qualify as ‘in scope’ in respect of principle should go a long way with
Commissioning Group (CCG). disputes about eligibility for funding public bodies’ management, staff and
or the amount of funding for packages elected or board members.
The proposed charity is going to be of services under statutory duties
called CASCAIDr – the Centre for applicable in England and Wales. CASCAIDr will work in a virtual way,
Adults’ Social Care – Advice, The charity’s objects also include using technology to enable people to:
Information and Dispute Resolution. advancing social welfare,
public education, relieving fnancial l book calls to an expert
What’s the problem? hardship, promoting citizenship,
I believe there’s an urgent need for a confict resolution and shoring up l fll out referral forms
national organisation providing free third-sector providers in diffcult times.
legal advice on social care. Existing l obtain assistance from volunteers,
information and advice resources have if the person’s own attempt at a form
been depleted, legal aid has shrunk If a council or nHS is not suffciently specifc
and Citizens Advice Bureaux don’t body near you is doing
cover this area. something that we ought to l get advice directly from a public
know about, please email access barrister (for more complex
In addition, there’s an acknowledged the details to me at: cases that are beyond CASCAIDr’s
crisis in social care funding, belindaschwehr@ specialist in-house expertise)
a signifcantly reduced workforce cascaidr.com
and a yawning gap between the l gain access to solicitors who either
rhetoric and the reality – with some offer legal aid or are interested in
ugly and unethical pressures being CASCAIDr’s logo is a foodgate with working, perhaps “pro bono”,
applied behind the scenes. a deluge of powerful cascading water on useful test cases
carrying all before it. I can’t wait to
Most people don’t even realise that open the foodgates! l raise money for litigation through
they have a legal problem until it’s crowdfunding, via the
too late. Others just don’t want to Our activities will include triage, CrowdJustice website.
rock the boat, through fear or simple steering, analysis, advice and the
resignation. In diffcult times, many drafting of what’s called a ‘pre-action How will we cope with the
people feel their relatives shouldn’t be protocol letter’. This is a letter that workload?
someone else’s concern. In truth, people are obliged to send to local As founder, I’m going to be bringing 20
none of us can predict whether it authority and CCG legal advisers if years of expertise in adult social care
will be us who ends up needing they believe they have a serious legal law. I have been a barrister, academic,
adult social care. We all need public challenge to bring by way of judicial trainer, writer and commentator.
sector decision-making to be properly review, in the Administrative Court. I’m now happily returning to my roots

6 Vol 30 No 3 | Spring 2017 Community Living www.cl-initiatives.co.uk