A BROMSGROVE man who spent several months fighting Worcestershire social services for his mentally-disabled brother’s rent support has been issued with an apology and the promise of a £4,000 refund by the authority.
The news arrived just four weeks after The Standard published the story of John Crean and his fight for the disabled rights of his brother Richard.
Mr Crean told the Standard how the authority’s decision to stop paying his brother’s rent allowance in May this year led to an arrears of £4,158.54, which he paid on Richard’s behalf.
He said: “We couldn’t just sit back and do nothing, otherwise he’d have to leave and he’s quite comfortable where he’s living, so I paid the outstanding amount from Richard’s savings.”
John said he received an email on September 26 from social services senior manager Faith Robinson confirming he would soon get a refund and an item of correspondence outlining the findings of an inquiry into why the rent support was withdrawn in the first place.
Mr Crean said Richard’s accommodation was managed by Eden Futures where a contact told him recommendations to withdraw rent support were made by a social worker at a pathways meeting in May this year.
He said: “I find it very hard that a social worker who is meant to look after Richard’s best interests as a disabled person would do this.
“I find that quite bizarre.
“At the same time, it just horrifies me to think what Richard would have done had I or the rest of the family not been there to pick up the pieces after his rent support was withdrawn.
“I’ve known of psychiatric patients who fall through the net and end up on the streets, so if Richard was on his own, is this what he would have endured too?”
Speaking about the decision by social services, he added: “It’s good news they will refund us – and your article in July definitely helped – but what I would say, is that it’s caused us all a great deal of pain and additional work, specially for the senior executives at Eden Futures who could do without this when they are busy caring for so many vulnerable people.
“We now look forward to bringing closure to the matter and welcome this refund and hope Richard will now get his rent support as a severely disabled person.”
A spokesperson for Worcestershire County Council told the Standard: “We are unable to comment as we do not discuss individuals publically and this is being dealt with through the County Council’s complaints procedure.”
