Belindsa Schwehr, an expert on learning disability and the law, recently posted a blog in the publicly accessible section of her website ‘Schwehr on Care’ snappily entitled “Using the Monitoring Officer as a free and convenient means to raise concerns about illegality, in the public law sense, in adult social care”
In it, she highlights the role and status of the Monitoring Officer. And every Local Authority must and will have a Monitoring Officer, whose role is to monitor the authority’s legal compliance.
Anyone ‘in dispute’ with a local authority or wondering how to challenge a decision (other than by using the informal and formal complaints procedures, or attempting escalate matters by seeking judicial review) might care to read this blog about a possible alternative
This is its key section:
“This post is to flag up that there is a much easier way of challenging a local authority’s actions or decisions, policies or practices, and it’s not widely publicised. It’s use of the Monitoring Officer’s own independent statutory duties to keep a roving eye or ear out, for alleged unlawfulness within his or her council. It means that all you have to do is know enough about law to be able to string 3 or 4 paragraphs together to lay out for a Monitoring Officer a coherent arguable case on why what’s been done, or is about to be done or not done, is simply not defensibly lawful.
This duty was first created under an Act that goes back to 1989, when governance no doubt meant something different to what it tends to mean now.
The attached documents are an explanation of what the Monitoring Officer is there to do, and a list of nearly all the Monitoring Officers in adult social care councils in this country, together with their email addresses. A few are missing and will be added if anyone can give me the information.
There is also a justification for publishing their email addresses, without explicit consent, for Data Protection Purposes. If anyone thinks that making it easier to uphold the law in adult social care, by telling people how to use a remedy that’s been provided through the will of Parliament, is not a legitimate interest, on my part, as a data controller, then they are able to complain about this to the Information Commissioner.
I very much hope that people will put two and two together, maybe buy some of my Webinars, and equip themselves to do polite, informed battle for their or their loved one’s care packages and budgets.”
Some Rescare staff and trustees have subscribed to the Webinars mentioned, and are finding them very informative and thorough. The Webinars will run through to 2017, and all will be available to subscribers live and on catch-up. Details here.