Grandmother with cancer wins cancellation of care charges debt

Women protesting outside a town hall building, most are disabled. Some hold the WinVisible banner. Others hold placards saying Care charges = Violence against women. We want free homecare as in Hammersmith & Fulham. No ifs, no buts, no care cuts.

A grandmother with cancer was pursued by Tower Hamlets council for £2,600 care charges arrears. Her debt was written off after our battle lasting over nine months, with various twists and turns.  Several times, WinVisible quickly had to write to the council asking them to hold off debt recovery, on occasions when she felt too … Read more

Care charges — our Open Letter to Brent Council

WinVisible women holding our banner and placards at a protest against care charges.

16 December 2023 To: Cllr Neil Nerva, Cabinet member, Public Health and Adult Social Care cllr.neil.nerva@brent.gov.uk Andrew Davies, Head of Commissioning, Contract and Market Management andrew.davies@brent.gov.uk Open letterResponse to Brent Adult Social Care Charging Policy Consultation Consultation info We are writing from WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities), a multi-racial grassroots self-help organisation, based … Read more

Emma won care charges down to £4.19 a week

Thanks to My London news and reporter Joe Coughlan, read Emma’s story below.    WinVisible says: Our member Emma is severely disabled and won reduced care charges down to £4.19 a week, from £48.27, with our support.  She is due a cash refund from Bromley Council.  Bromley has privatised who decides care charges, so people … Read more

Councils can’t take Cost of Living payments in charges

People feared that the cost of living payments were going to be taken by Councils for care charges, as they take our disability benefits without caring whether we can afford it. Now, the government Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has confirmed that cost of living payments under the Social Security (Additional Payments) Bill … Read more

“87,000 people can’t keep up with care bills” 

Care charges. Chaminda Jayanetti writes: “Nearly 90,000 adult care users are behind on their care charge payments, with around one in four of all chargeable care users issued with reminder notices or more serious enforcement action.” Article on Open Democracy international news website. We’re quoted: [WinVisible] said care charges were a form of “violence against … Read more

Update: winning against care charges & discrimination

We’ve won some changes since Islington Tribune highlighted Fereshteh Khosroujerdy’s care charges and other discrimination against her as a blind woman needing specific support and accessible letters by email. Fereshteh says: “Islington Council has promised to review my case, reduce the care charges, backdate this and refund me the difference in cash. But we’re waiting … Read more

‘The cost of care has left me scared to shop’

Blind woman says 130 per cent charge increase means she is now frightened to spend money Shared from the Islington Tribune, Friday, 13th May — By Anna Lamche A BLIND woman facing “extortionate” fees for her care has said she fears going shopping, amid warnings that spiralling care charges are compounding the bills crisis for the … Read more

Local elections: press candidates about mothers and children, social care

Before the local elections on 5 May, we have a chance to press the candidates who want our votes, to commit to providing mothers and children with support so families can stay together – if they are elected.  It’s our chance to tell them that councils must stop targeting mostly working-class single mothers for “child … Read more

Care charges: Councils of despair

We helped with this article (below). Thanks to Private Eye and Heather Mills for publicising, Cheshire DPAC/Oppose Social Care Charging in Cheshire and Inclusion London for getting Councils to release figures on how many sick and disabled people they threaten with court. As it’s a paper magazine, here is the text for visually impaired readers: … Read more