Flintshire family caring for severely autistic adult has been "left abandoned" amid Covid-19 pandemic

The Broster family, caring for 29-year-old Jonathan who requires 24-hour care and support, says it has been an "immense challenge" to look after him full time after his day centre was closed amid lockdown.

Now the family has been informed that Jonathan has lost his place altogether at Raby Hall day centre, on the Wirral, due to a failure between Flintshire Council and Autism Together, which runs the centre, to come to an agreement on the funding which the council would supply on behalf of Jonathan's place to help support the centre through the impact of the pandemic.

Prior to closing its day service provision, Autism Together says it made contact with Flintshire Council to inform it of the forced closure due to the pandemic; and asked the authority to share its intentions about payment for those services during lockdown.

Other local authorities, such as Cheshire West and Chester, Wirral and also Liverpool are said to have "understood the difficulties facing the health and social care sector" and were willing to pay those commissioned hours as long as Autism Together did what it could to support the families.

However Flintshire Council has taken the position to only pay a 10 per cent retention fee for day services that have not been delivered, which Autism Together describes as "still unacceptable".

This has left Autism Together with "no choice" but to withdraw its support for Jonathan, who has been attending the centre since he was 16, and for other people in Flintshire.

The organisation says it has been in "continual contact" with the families affected, making on average two phone calls a week to offer support and advice during lockdown.

It says it has logged a total of 24 calls to the Broster family in that time.

Autism Together’s CEO, Sue Stubbs, said: "We are deeply saddened that the approach to funding from Flintshire will mean no day service support to a number of vulnerable Flintshire adults. As the county council has not given any indication as to when this may change, we are unable to hold open these day services places and those concerned may have no access to vital future services.

"We have found ourselves in an extremely difficult position and have thought long and hard about alternatives, but without payment our hands are tied."

Autism Together says it will appeal to Flintshire Council to reverse its decision, but from the "conversations we have had so far, we have little hope that this will be realised".

It also says it has written to local and national politicians to express its concerns, including to Mark Isherwood, chair of Cross-Party Autism Group in Welsh Assembly; Rob Roberts, MP for Delyn; Mark Tami, MP for Alyn and Deeside; and Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

The Broster family said: "Families with autistic adults and special needs have been let down by Flintshire Council during the global pandemic.

"Anyone living with a severely autistic adult knows what a immense challenge it can be. In fact it’s sadly rare for an adult with a server disability and behaviour problems to still be living at home at all when grown up.

"Jonathan has been completely abandoned. Raby Hall was the only facility that could handle his extreme behaviour, and a safe place for Jonathan to develop trusting and safe relationships, which is an extremely hard thing for him to do.

"Jonathan can not leave the house without extra support due to his behaviour, which means his mum cannot leave the house either.

"As you can imagine this makes simple tasks very hard and even things like going out for a walk are simply impossible."

The family says no replacement day services have been offered and no meetings have taken place to discuss the cuts or future plans.

It says way it has been handled has been "utterly degrading"

The family added: "We need to stand up for people who do not have a voice, for the people have been and keep get forgotten about by services because they can’t stand up for themselves."

Flintshire Council says it is "working closely" with all care providers to support those in need of care and support, and that it had "no choice" but to suspend access to some services due to Government guidance on lockdown restrictions, noting that the prevailing guidance in England and Wales has not been consistent.

A spokesman for the authority said: "We are currently working through a process of restoring these services as quickly as possible and working with all our providers to adherence to the Welsh Government contact guidance. This includes ensuring robust risk assessment are in place to keep those who use services safe.

"To support care providers through this difficult time the council has provided all day services providers with a 10 per cent payment for 15 weeks for a period up to the end of June.

"We are unable to discuss individual cases, but we have not been made aware that any placements for Flintshire residents have come to an end and are currently working with the provider concerned to find a resolution to the situation.

"The individuals and families who receive day services from this provider have been contacted by our social work teams who are able to offer specific support to these individuals and those who care for them."