No Anticipatory Measures for Disabled Users to fairly access Cafcass Complaints Procedure

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Dear Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service,

Under FOIA please provide me with the following contained in your records:

1. Per the Equality Act 2010 is it a statutory duty for Cafcass to be 'anticipatory' as an organisation?

To be clear, Cafcass as an organisation should not wait until a disabled service user informs them the complaints procedure is not accessible to them. Do Cafcass 'anticipate' this in advance and then on a continual basis?

2. What 'Anticipatory' measures have Cafcass put in place for disabled service user's within the last three financial years, please provide substantive evidence and not your vision? Please break these figures down year on year month and month.

3. Can Cafcass provide me with evidence to demonstrate how they provide a range of impairments not limited to, but including: Vision impairment, hearing impairment, mobility impairments, learning difficulties impairments or mental ill health to access the Complaints procedure fairly and equally or as close to the standard usually offered to non disabled people?

Because as it stands your complaints procedure only appears accessible to non disabled people.

4. For the benefit of disabled readers can you please evidence under the Equalities Act 2010 how sight impaired service users access your complaints procedure for example do you provide a braille service? Please provide a copy of your complaints procedure in braille?

5. How do deaf/blind people access the complaints procedure fairly?

6. How do disadvantaged people with no access to telephone or internet gain fair access to your complaints procedure?

7. How do older people/elderly, who might be technologically challenged, fairly make a complaint to your service?

8. How do people who are physically challenged who can't communicate by email or telephone fairly access your complaints?

9. How to people who require an advocate due to a protected characteristic gain fair access to your complaints system within your specified timescales, as advocates, personal assistants, carers or anyone else who is assisting the service user as these individuals have diaries too?

10. And where physical impairments or any other impairments, medically require an extended period of time to complete in comparison to a able bodied service user?

11. Where a person has a physical or mental condition that limits their movements, senses or activities for example severe physical disability that has a substantial and long term negative effect on their abilities to do normal daily activities for example including but limited to using the telephone, email and hand writing, will Cafcass allow these service users the time each individual requires to fairly access your complaints procedures? As 15 days to many disabled people is not a sufficient amount of time.

12. Being anticipatory here, your policy states a person can withdraw their complaint and resubmit within 6 months, but only giving them a 15 day window at any one time, as the service requires to do this in manageable bites, therefore your diversity procedure requires to be changed to suit the service user as they are able to negotiate it.

The complaints procedure requires to be tailored to the needs of peoples diversities.

Yours faithfully,

Samantha Kerr

Governance, Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Kerr,

 

Thank you for your email.

 

Please accept this as formal acknowledgement of your Freedom of
Information request which was received by Cafcass on 27 December 2018.

 

Your reference number is CAF18-185.

 

We aim to respond to your promptly, and at the latest 20 working days from
receipt of your request. You will therefore receive a response on or
before 23 January 2019.

 

Kind regards,

 

Governance Team | Cafcass

* [1][CAFCASS request email] | ü [2]www.cafcass.gov.uk

[3]Cafcass_Logo_2014_email

 

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Governance, Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service

2 Attachments

Dear Ms Kerr

 

Thank you for your email. Please find attached our response to your
Freedom of Information request.

 

Kind regards,

 

Governance Team | Cafcass

* [1][CAFCASS request email] | ü [2]www.cafcass.gov.uk

[3]Cafcass_Logo_2014_email

 

Cafcass email addresses have changed to end in @cafcass.gov.uk. Please
ensure you update your address book. For more information on this change
please see our  [4]website

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