Daily roundup: Disability payments, Youth Work Week and SEN support in Bromley

Government has been warned to closely monitor the success of the new payment system due to replace the Disability Living Allowance (DLA), amid fears that disabled young people have not been consulted adequately on the changes. A report from Every Disabled Child Matters and the Royal National Institute of Blind People says the introduction of Personal Independence Payments from October 2013 could affect the ability of young disabled 16-to 25-year-olds to establish independent living.

MPs are being invited to spend an hour with frontline youth workers as part of Youth Work Week next month. The National Youth Agency (NYA) says the event, which starts on 5 November, offers an opportunity for MPs to see first hand the value of youth work taking place in communities. Fiona Blacke, NYA chief executive of said: “If MPs spend just one hour observing their local youth services we know they will recognise the importance of the supportive and strong relationships which youth workers build with young people to prepare them for their adult lives.”

Bromley Council has been ordered to pay a total of £7,000 for delays in issuing a boy’s statement of special educational needs (SEN). Local government ombudsman, Jane Martin said the council’s failures caused the boy, who has selective mutism and severe anxiety, “unnecessary uncertainty, anxiety and stress”, which contributed to absences from school and “reduced his choices for post-16 education”. She found that the council delayed issuing a final statement of SEN by 15 months, failed to provide speech and language therapy for 12 months, and failed to provide a key worker for 10 months.

The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) has called on the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) to accept a £20m government grant to help it improve its performance. The regulator has been struggling with staff turnover and a large backlog of cases and had been considering an increase in registration fees by nearly 60 per cent. Cathy Warwick, chief executive of the RCM, said: “For some time, it has been known that the NMC faces a significant shortfall in its finances, and the RCM has argued that the cost of filling this hole should not fall on our cash-strapped members. The RCM urges the NMC’s council to accept this grant, which we understand will be used mainly to meet the backlog in fitness to practice cases.”