Not quite an appointee

Thank you, David. That is well worth knowing.

Hello, Ive just read through your thread and was interested to read about your experiences regarding the near mythical Vulnerable Persons Team.
I'd not heard of this but this would be far better for my son thane being his appointee as i currentlly am. I did some googling and this link came up www.gov.uk/government/publications/addit...wp-customers-booklet - its a policy paper published over two years ago but makes interesting reading.
Personally I am getting nowhere with trying to find some help or advocacy - all the disability organisations are too busy, my MP isnt responding and Ive not had much luck trying to find some paid legal help.
The general consensus seems to be that if your disabled adult child has a job then they cant possibly be financially vulnerable and need communication support.
Its very wearing and we are no longer to access his grant (Access to Work) to claim the support as they have put so many hurdles in the way (paper claims only, wet ink line manager signatures and so on).
I'm about to write a complaint but ive advised my son to join the union as he is very vulnerable to being manage out, despite being good at his job.

Hello Crow30 and David,

Thanks to both of you for these links, which make interesting reading.

Crow30, it's very interesting to read your thoughts on this. I so agree with what you say about having a job, yet still being vulnerable (not just financially but in other ways too) and needing communication support. My son is able to talk to people about his work and guide them through complex technical problems with their computers, etc., but when it comes to social situations and the sort of office chit-chat most of us take for granted, he seems to unknowingly offend people and, consequently, suffers a lot of bullying; this has been the case in almost every job he has ever had. If there is a problem with his wages, he finds it almost impossible to query it, nor does he understand what he is told, which has, once or twice in the past, meant he has been held responsible for other people's mistakes, just by not pointing out an overpayment quickly enough. (I can foresee that this might be a real problem with the DWP, too, if he tried to manage his benefits himself.) He has already been forced to leave one job because of being bullied by his manager (who was also the owner of the business) and I had high hopes when he managed to secure a position with a larger company, but one colleague in particular has made his life very difficult, so it may not last long.

As you say, it is very wearing, but there seems to be no real support available and, unfortunately, most organisations (including the NHS and the DWP, I'm afraid, both of whom should have systems in place to avoid such discrimination) tend to use a person's vulnerability against them, rather than seeing it as a reason to take extra care. This is in spite of the provisions of the Equality Act, which are well-intended but difficult to enforce.

If the Government is serious about getting more people with disabilities into work, this is a problem they need to address beforehand, but in the meantime, I would be very interested to hear other people's experiences, especially if anyone has had any contact with the Vulnerable Persons Team.

Best wishes,

Wendy

HI
Just a quick reply but may help some of you - in the end i put my query in to google AI and it bought up a wealth of info about how the Equalities Act applies and how the DWP should make reasonable adjustments.
It also pointed to a group called The AccessToWorkCollective who seem to be on social media (FB,INsta etc) but you can also email them any details of interactions you have had with yourMP on the matter (they have an excel spreadsheet where you can add data for this but email for those who find that a challenge).

The template letters are excellent and you can ask to email your application form and even get it electronically signed by a line manager as a reasonable adjustment IN THEORY - how much they are likely to allow this without a legal fight i'm not sure. They do make reasonable adjustments for claimants - the visually impaired can receive stuff via email - although my experience is you have to keep pushing for it.