News

Our 2017 Practitioner of the Year, Carolyn Tucker, is celebrating after winning another prestigious award at the National Autistic Society’s Autism Professional Awards 2018.

Carolyn, who works for Surrey Choices, was named the winner in the ‘Most Inspirational Social Care Professional’ category. Carolyn impressed the judges with her exceptional contribution to the lives of autistic people. Carolyn supports people with a wide range of disabilities by helping them to find employment opportunities with local employers.

Together for Short Lives have announced the launch of the second round of the Improving Transitions for Young People Fund.
 
Having awarded funding to two projects in the first round of the funding in 2017, they are again reaching out to children’s and adult services to support their development of innovative services and approaches to overcoming the barriers seriously ill young people face in their move to adulthood, helping them to live life to the full.
 

The Work and Pensions Committee is looking at the future of the European Social Fund within the context of Brexit. A one-off oral evidence session was held on 28 February and participants discussed a wide range of issues including the demographic and geographic targeting of funds, how support is commissioned and linkages to wider policy initiatives. The hearing also discussed the level of flexibility and bureaucracy within the administration of the European Social Fund.

The Work and Pensions Committee has published its report looking into how PIP (Personal Independence Payments) and ESA (Employment and Support Allowance) assessments are conducted. The report says public contract failures have led to a loss of trust that risks undermining the operation of major disability benefits.

The decision to contract out PIP and ESA assessments in the first instance was taken to introduce efficient, consistent and objective tests for benefit eligibility.