The Society for Children
and Adults with Learning
Disabilities and their Families
Supporting Campaigns
Lobbying MPs, ministers & agencies on legislation and policy changes
Helpline: 0161 474 7323
Here to help with questions relating to learning disability and its impact on family carers
Membership
How to join us…
Membership of Rescare is available to individuals, families, and affiliated groups (charities, schools, etc.). Your membership of Rescare helps us to campaign on your behalf; to represent the interests of people with learning disabilities, their carers, and especially family carers.
Rescare has always tried to present the views and interests of its members in consultations undertaken by government departments (e.g. the Department of Health and the Department for Work and Pensions, the Ministry of Justice) and by bodies such as the Law Commission – and we continue to do so. We were closely involved in consultations prior to the publication of the Valuing People White Paper and the passing of Mental Capacity Act, and we take a special interest in the operation of the Office of the Public Guardian and the Court of Protection.
Members are entitled to contact our Helpline for advice and information.
Members receive a quarterly newsletter, Resnews, which aims to keep them up to date with issues in the learning disability sector, and with Rescare’s activities.
We have created an area of our website with access reserved for members. Details available here. This is being used initially to make back-issues of Resnews available as PDF documents.
We do not operate a forum, but we do encourage members to send us their views on issues related to learning disability (by post or email); we will consider publishing any submission online on our ‘Editorial and Letters‘ webpage, or in Resnews.
If you are interested in becoming a member, please
- phone us on 0161 4747323, or
- email us at office@rescare.org.uk , or
- complete the online contact form (see our Contact page), or
- or download and send in the membership application form, available here for download in Word or PDF format.
(Membership currently costs £15 per year for Individual Membership and £20 for Family Membership).
Rescare on Facebook
Appearing (hopefully) in GPs' surgeries and health centres now... the STOMP-STAMP leafet "for families of children and young people with a learning disability, autism or both who may be prescribed (or are prescribed) psychotropic medication". www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/stomp-stamp-family-leaflet.pdf News from the long grass... Still no sign of a Social Care Green Paper! On reflection, you can only kick something into the long grass once, and as of April, the publication of government proposals for the future social care had been delayed five times! The Green Paper proposals, if ever published, will be relevant to people with learning disabilities. LGA Sets Ten-Week Deadline to Publish Social Care Green Paper The transcript of what was probably the best programme I've ever heard on Radio 4 about learning disability and being a family carer is now available via this link downloads.bbc.co.uk/rmhttp/fileon4/14_on_whose_authority.pdf . 
The Local Government Association is getting very restless! thecareruk.com/lga-sets-ten-week-deadline-to-publish-social-care-green-paper/
I have also located this concise analysis of the situation: www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2019/04/details-delay-social-care-green-paper. Interesting and depressing to note the suggestion of a false linkage between the Green Paper and the NHS Long Term Plan, which has improving the health of the learning disabled as a key objective
The programme was regrettably only 37 minutes long so the transcript is only 20 pages long, and worth reading. Lots of informed comment, and some 'humour' in the conversation between the BBC journalist and Stephen Chandler, senior policy official at ADASS:-
BOLDERSON: The Local Government Ombudsman published a report in 2017,which said that vulnerable adults were being let down by social work practice, and although that was 2017, indicates now that the situation isn’t getting any better - not judging by the number of complaints that they get.
CHANDLER: Again, I come back to there is absolutely no local authority up and down the country that wants to do anything that doesn’t ensure the appropriate inclusion of families of individuals where possible in such decision makings, and I am disappointed to hear that people have felt that that hasn’t been the case or that their opinions haven’t been valued.
Hmmmm.. Just a reminder this is the webpage for the sound version of the File on 4 programme (On Whose Authority?) www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0005mvn
The Society for Children and Adults
with Learning Disabilities and their Families