London Fire -2

To answer a previous comment from dj, my default view of people's motives is that they are benign or neutral, unless I have clear and undeniable evidence to the contrary. Dj starts from the other end of the spectrum, they are assumed to be malign until proved otherwise.

Camden council are paying for all the displaced people.

We will not be charging tenants rent or council tax whilst they are in temporary accommodation (if you pay via direct debit any payment taken will be refunded).
If you are a private tenant, your council tax will not be charged and we will reimburse your rent for the duration you are in temporary accommodation. Submit evidence of your tenancy and rent (for example, your tenancy agreement) to [email protected]

Really, Elegran?
You know me better than I know myself, do you?
Must be good to look down on us lesser mortals from your godlike tower and decide what you know about us.

But carry on being unpleasant - I think we're all used to it now.

Don't be silly durhamjen. Why on earth should I care about a couple of bullies?

If you can't make a political point Ana do you really have to make a derogatory personal one. I haven't been on all day and was interested to see what everyone had learnt about the situation these poor people are in - but no, the usual attacks from one of the usual people.

I thought this was a political thread not a personal attack one.

I must admit I think that as the direct debit is automated I doubt anyone would even think about it until they checked which had been paid or not. I can understand the person being upset but we also have to think about all the people who work, day in day out, at the council. This will also have been very traumatic for them. I imagine every single one of them is trying to do their best.

Thank you, dj. Has K and C made a similar statement? If so, we are possibly talking about over walked council staff not coping - understandable, but no consolation to the Grenfell tenants. Again, the way the Councillor dealt with it was appalling.

We should be careful not to assume that Council staff are in cahoots with or share the opinions of the Conservative Councillors, who frankly have come across throughout as a bunch of useless twerps.

That is what I was saying, GG. All automated.

Over walked??? Overworked, of course, though they may be used to the Councillors walking all over them.

My concern was the dismissive way the female councillor responded to being questioned about the rent deduction.
GracesGran and Grumppa are right to stress the difference between council workers and council leaders.
The same councillor claimed that each family had been allocated a social worker to support them. Have the council found a magic social work tree, where sw with nothing to do can leave their cups of tea and devote loads of time to individual traumatised people. What about their existing, high risk case loads. I'm not simply moaning and criticising here but every sw department I know is creaking under the weight of current work loads. The use of agency staff to plug gaps grows. Agency staff don't know the area, he support services etc.
I hope this is a well resourced and coordinated use of sw resources and doesn't simply mean the abandonment of the existing groups allocated a sw,with resources spread increasingly thin.
As for the issue of personal attacks on political threads - there seems no end to it.

Yes, am sure the council employees are beavering away behind the scenes doing all they can.I think I am right Iam64 that you used to be either a social worker, or connected to the dept. So you will know the score.I wonder if ss from different boroughs are helping ( but as you say, what about their normal caseloads?)

Exactly Elegran all automated.

I think, while we can have sympathy for those beavering away in the background, almost certainly, like the fire-men and the police recently, they will be working huge tranches of overtime because their aren't enough of them. I had already been wondering if the long-service person who might have thought to say that the direct debit requests were going out had been replaced by agency staff who couldn't know the ins and out.

There are several levels of not providing adequate services in the first place.

Rent collection is the responsibility of Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation, which is a private company, so the council can say "Nothing to do with us".

There are some phone numbers for emergency aid, etc. but no info about what to do to stop rents.

Their news announcements are mainly standard condolence and "cover your arse" stuff.

The phrase "headless chickens" comes to mind.

Like many others, I was included in what was then called 'disaster planning'. The training involved staff from various agencies and was good. I've struggled to understand what has seemed to be inadequate and incompetent responses by KandC council. The leaders I've seen interviewed have shown no acknowledgement of this. The council leader used the phrase taking responsibility for 'perceived' failings. The arrogance in that phrase could have been uttered in a similar vein to "let them eat cake".
I'm not claiming that local authority services were problem free but the tragedy of this fire has highlighted the problems of where accountability lies when almost every erything is out to the cheapest tender.

As far I can see roses only has to put her head above the parapet and she gets it bitten off. I often don't agree with her politics, but she's polite and doesn't get personal unless someone's had a go at her first. She's entitled to make her point without being ridiculed and it is borderline bullying IMHO.

Having worked in housing for an LA, I'm pretty sure staff will be working their socks off trying to help make things better. Remember the staff working for the council or the management company are just like many of of us. They're the ones who have worked through all the staff cuts and changes that cutting public services entails. They were under pressure before the tragedy. We can't have it both ways.

Unlike most of us who regularly posted on the political threads and gave up, Roses doesn't give in to the 'borderline bullying'
I wish I could still be bothered, by like many others, I just can't.

Is it because there has to be a scapegoat for everything do you think?

It doesn't help the Council's case that this morning's spokeswoman, according to Linked In, seems to be involved in the property/estate agency business.

iam64 I absolutely agree with you about the dearth of sw, there is no way that the GT residents can be receiving the level of support that that councillor said they were. It's a pity that the interviewer ( forgot who) wasn't well briefed/informed enough to follow that issue up. Agency staff at all levels are the norm in many London boroughs and every day staff have to make crucial decisions to,prioritise their caseloads. As much as the GT residents need a range of support, how does a sw balance their needs against, for example, a child at risk of sexual/physical abuse? They can't do everything

Scapegoats? Like the people who caused this tragedy?

That's my fear, that the sw allocated to each family, will be blamed when things don't go well. Sw's are so often the scapegoat when things go wrong. I stress, I'm not defending poor practice.
in the initial period after a disaster, people need practical support and services, delivered consistently and compassionately. That's not happened. I wonder what the role of these sw is to be? Sorting out benefits and housing isn't something they have the power to do and their skills lie elsewhere. Therapeutic help for children and adults isn't available, cuts to all key services have ensured that. I wonder how many sw have been found, how many individuals and families each sw is. to support. I don't want to be a serial complainer because help is certainly needed.

So can we blame austerity for the shortage of staff at all levels?

Thank you Wilma petra and Ana I hope that nobody here will give in to any bullying.....I certainly won't.

Am off to enjoy a holiday soon (good news for some) but look forward to catching up with GN next weekend.