York’s accessibility information in the palm of your hand.

National disability organisation, AccessAble is launching a free app to give visitors and residents of York high-quality accessibility information they can access whilst out and about.

Long-term partner of City of York Council and provider of detailed access guides, AccessAble have created a new mobile app which aims to transform the quality and availability of accessibility information.

The app provides detailed access guides to 10,000s of places across the UK and Ireland. Crucially each guide is created by locations having been visited by an AccessAble surveyor and local people with accessibility requirements, who can collect over 1,000 pieces of information for just one venue.

The app itself can display facts, figures and photographs as well as step-by-step descriptions of what accessibility is like at a particular location. Users can create their own account and save favourite places and filter their preferences depending on their accessibility needs.

Find out more at www.AccessAble.co.uk
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York’s ‘short breaks’ service for children with physical disabilities, learning disabilities and autism rated ‘good

City of York Council’s Short Break’s service has been rated ‘good’ by independent inspectors.

The service, which provides flexible personal care and support to families with children with physical disabilities, learning disabilities and autism at weekends, evenings and in the school holidays, was inspected by the Care Quality Commissions in January 2019.

The inspection rated the service in five key areas, assessing whether  it was safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. All five aspects of the service were rated as ‘good’.

The inspection highlighted that Community Short Break Workers have a good understanding of children’s needs and are kind and caring. It also reported that they understand the importance of respecting children’s dignity and upholding their right to privacy.

Inspectors recognised that children are supported to live fulfilled meaningful lives and that information was available to ensure that they could access the community, events, and activities with minimal restrictions in a planned way for their maximum benefit and enjoyment.

The report also highlighted the positive work Community Short Break Workers do to help children learn new skills and take on new challenges, for example, to eat in cafes and restaurants.

Other professionals also reported the service to be effective and recognised that it was valued by parents for the support it gave to their families.
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What’s on in York: “Say Owt” Disabled People’s Writing Workshop

Dec _2Say Owt

York Explore Library :

Sun 2 Dec :

1.00pm – 3.00pm :

Free

Part of York’s UN International Day of People with Disabilities programme.  Say Owt, York’s rowdiest spoken word and performance poetry organisation, team up with local poet Katherine Watson to lead a writing workshop with an optional performance element. Suitable for everyone, from curious beginners to seasoned scribblers.  Open to anyone within the disabled umbrella, including chronically ill, mentally ill and neurodivergent people. Come along to spark some new ideas, or even a new hobby! Carers and guardians welcome.

No need to book.

Step-free access.  Accessible toilets.  Limited disabled parking available. Please contact info@sayowt.co.uk for further info or with any access requirements.

Organised by Say Owt, York spoken word/poetry organisation.  www.sayowt.co.uk

York Council tries to clear up £6 million contract confusion

We reported in February that the York Council had let social care contracts worth over £1.3 million pa. We questioned then whether the contracts had been properly advertised, whether they represented value for money and how their success would be monitored.

In a Freedom of Information response, the Council has sought to justify its actions

The number of tenders – advertised through Yortender & OJEU – received for each contract was low.

The details are:

  1. Supported Lodgings – 1 tender. Awarded to Safe and Sound Homes (SASH).
  2. Family Support – 4 tenders. Awarded to The Cyrenians (Community Links) This contract is worth £480,000 over 3 years
  3. Older People and People with Physical Disabilities – 3 tenders. Awarded to Yorkshire Housing Ltd.

In total the tenders are worth £6.6 million over a period of 5 years.

The Council has declined to indicate the value of the individual tenders it received.

All contracts were awarded on 15th September 2016 according to the contracts register. However, the decisions were only published in February 2017 (after the contracts had started). The Council itself says that the contracts were awarded, under delegated authority, by Council officials. The was no member involvement after the Executive meeting on 28th April 2016. The Council claims the awards were decided on the following dates

a) 28th Aug 2016

b) 6th January 2017

c) 15th September 2016

It declines to say why the decisions were not recorded in the decisions register until as long as 4 months later.

It has also declined to make available the minutes of any bodies which considered the contracts nor will it say to which publicly accountable body the outputs against target will be reported.

The required outcomes, for two of the contracts, are expressed only in very general terms. They are more specific for the family support contract (see below)

Contrary to the impression given at the Council’s Executive meeting, the potential service providers were apparently not required to provide their “vision” for the service and its customers.