Haringey Disability First Consortium

• Promotion and awareness of disability issues, rights and responsibilities to the public, statutory stakeholders, and the private sector
• Provide a casework service for those who have complaints relevant to the DDA & DED.
• Establish and support a Disability Forum for both individuals and organisations, with an interest in disability issues.
• Work in partnership with the local authority and other key stakeholders to ensure best practice in its role as an employer and service provider on disability issues.

The Consortium will provide the opportunity to facilitate arrangements in Haringey, through which the local authority and other key stakeholders, can work with the community to carry out its responsibilities under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) and The Disability Equality Duty 2006 (DED). The Consortium is well placed to undertake this role, due to the partners’ established place in the community and its long record of work on equalities issues. There are strong similarities between the rights and duties imposed by the DDA and the DED, and those of other equalities legislation, for example the Race Relations Act 1976 and the Race Relations Act (Amendment) 2000. The nature of the work to be undertaken, much of it of a strategic nature is identical in character, and very familiar to the Consortium partners. A similar culture and style of working will also be required to progress the disability agenda.

Providing advice and information – facilitating representation

We aim to improve the way people experience, benefit and are represented on disability issues in Haringey. The Consortium will establish appropriate networks to develop full participation from all sections of the local disabled community to improve local service delivery and the planning of future services and policies.

• Promotion and awareness of disability issues, rights and responsibilities to the public, statutory stakeholders, and the private sector

• Provide a casework service for those who have complaints relevant to the Disability Discrimination Act & Disability Equality Duty

• Establish and support a Disability Forum for both individuals and organisations, with an interest in disability issues• Work in partnership with the local authority and other key stakeholders to ensure best practice in its role as an employer and service provider on disability issues

• Publish a disability newsletter, twice a year•

To inform and raise awareness of disability issues within the wider community

• To provide a strategic representation service on behalf of clients and/or their advocates

• To compile a database of local agencies who provide a specialist advice and service on disability issues, for use in signposting and networking

• To take a pro-active role in promoting effective partnerships with the statutory sector and other relevant bodies, for example the Equalities and Human Rights Commission

• To develop a means to deliver disability service improvements locally

• To encourage good practice and disability awareness in our advisory capacity

• To improve access and the distribution of information to people with disabilities

• To promote positive images of disabled people and challenge discriminating attitudes

 Representation

A representative Forum will meet at least three times per year and central coordinating support will be provided to its members. Advice will be offered to disabled people about services. During Forum meetings and other events there will be opportunities to meet, share experiences and develop closer links with other disabled people and service providers. Disabled people, as we know do not live without context and the benefits of connecting their families, friends and carers through the events and training sessions will add to the overall benefit by making sure people are informed about options and services available. It is expected that the key stakeholders, for example Haringey Teaching Primary Care Trust, will benefit from the project which will in turn lead to service improvements for local disabled people. It is expected that the Forum members will also make recommendations to the HDFC. Speakers will be invited to give representations at Forums and seminars and users/members will be encouraged to raise issues. The Consortium will have 2 representatives from each partner organisation, one of which will be a representative of disabled people. The remaining places will be reserved for co-options from user groups/clients, representing disabled people. It is envisaged that there will be at least 60% Disabled representatives. 

Advice Provision

Haringey REC and Haringey CAB both operate within the Community Legal Service Quality Mark framework and will extend their services to include two part-time dedicated caseworkers to deliver the service. It is anticipated that the Business Plan will include a marketing and publicity strategy to advertise the service widely and to distribute leaflets and information to local agencies and community organisations. Haringey REC’s offices will operate a drop-in service (two days per week) and an appointment service (two days per week). Included in this we will also operate a telephone, email, text and correspondence service during the week. All clients will be interviewed and assessed and their complaint investigated in compliance to the CLS standards of service. Case file reviews will be undertaken on a monthly basis and six monthly reports and casework trends/analysis will be made to the HDF Consortium. At the end of the first year an impact analysis review will be undertaken to provide a basis for informing key policy decision makers of potential gaps in service and to make recommendations for service improvement. Lessons learnt will be shared with other agencies via the Forum and local networks.  

Background Information

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 established legal rights for disabled people and makes it unlawful for public authorities to discriminate unreasonably against disabled people in the provision of services and employment. The Disability Equality Duty Dec 2006 grants individual civil rights to disabled people and introduced a new statutory duty on the public sector to promote equality of opportunity for disabled people. Key public authorities have published a Disability Equality Duty scheme that sets out how they will implement the Disability Duty. This new duty shifts the responsibility for changing the culture of public sector away from individual disabled people towards Ministers and officials responsible for designing policies and services. It requires public authorities to carry out their functions with “due regard” to the need to:

• eliminate unlawful disability discrimination and disability-related harassment.
• promote equality of opportunity for disabled people, taking steps to account for disabled people’s disabilities.
• promote positive attitudes to disabled people.
• encourage disabled people to participate in public life.
• take steps to meet disabled people’s needs, even if this requires more favourable treatment.

In this section

• Our services
• Capacity building
• Community Development
• Conflict Resolution and Disability and Race Specific Casework
• Haringey Disability First Consortium
• Organisational Development, Governance and Management Skills
• Quality Systems
• Training