Sutton Lib Dems Embroiled in Discrimination Row
Liberal Democrats not so open, tolerant or united as they are implicated in disability discrimination
Sutton Decentralised Energy Network Ltd (SDEN) a company wholly owned by Sutton Council and described as a Lib Dem project due to it being featured in the Lib Dems election manifesto has recently become the focus of a disability discrimination row.
The company, operated by Sutton Council, and spearheaded by Liberal Democrat Councillor Jayne McCoy is thought to be culpable of offences under the Equality Act 2010 opening itself up to Civil Action.
SDEN, which is currently also receiving heavy scrutiny due to its unfair pricing has recently updated its practices and policies disadvantaging customers with protected characteristics.
The new policy states that all queries and complaints related to a SDEN account need to be sent by the registered account holder using only the email address they have on file. When asked if customers could complain over the phone they stated that the only route to complain or raise queries was by writing from emails SDEN had specifically recorded. All other complaints or queries would be ignored.
Customers Unable to Complain
With this new policy in place, blind or sight impaired customers are no longer able to query issues with their heating bills which are already set to be £3million over the market rate for the New Mill Quarter site in Hackbridge. An offence known as Indirect Discrimination by the Equality Act 2010. Disabled customers will also be affected if they are unable to use a computer as well as customers with certain injuries or those suffering from specific affects from brain injuries or strokes and customers with severe dyslexia.
Similarly, customers without the internet are no longer able to raise issues with the company. Residents are now concerned that they will no longer be able to raise issues in specific circumstances such as during a family split or divorce if their email is not recorded. There are further issues if customers find themselves in abusive or controlling relationships.
Further issues have been highlighted with the lack of accessibility in the entire SDEN website putting another blocker onto customers who try to fight back against the punitive pricing levied by the Sutton Lib Dems heating project.
SDEN now directs all customers to its website for updates which adds further restrictions to customers. The entire New Mill Quarter site has recently had 6 hot water outages in 5 weeks despite paying over £360 per annum for a “standing charge” before any heat is even paid for leaving certain customers powerless to do anything.
This policy will also impact multi occupancy households with only one bill payer as well as families with an account holder who is not able to access emails for any specific reason such as being off work or overseas. The implications are that if a customer does not interact with the Lib Dem heating company in the way they specifically dictate, they will no longer acknowledge the query causing great distress for customers.
Lib Dems Blocking Complaints from Residents
Since SDEN was established, the company has received over 650 complaints referencing unfair pricing, misrepresentation, site wide heating & hot water outages and unfair business practices.
In what residents believe is a bid to stem the flow of complaints, SDEN refused to acknowledge the New Mill Quarter Residents association after working with them previously despite the body being democratically elected and acting on behalf of residents. After this, a surge of individual complaints was lodged by residents by phone and email taking the total complaints and workload of the Lib Dem Council company much higher.
As SDEN is reviewed on the number of complaints it receives, residents believe the Lib Dem company then updated its policies to make sure the complaints were reduced whilst saving SDEN money on complaint handling. Their phone line hours were also reduced with specific operating hours put in place of 10am-1pm and 2pm-4pm under the guise of “covid-19 requirements”. However, we can report that during these operational hours there was simply no one available to come to the phones when we called them with calls going straight to voicemail. Their website also states different operational hours leading to further confusion for customers.
This policy change has already affected atleast 5 customers who have received template emails telling them their query or complaint is not permitted. In one of these circumstances the customer emailed in from a non-work account due to being on furlough and included their full name, address and account number. Their complaint concerning no hot water for their family was subsequently ignored and they were left without any recourse and are unable to formally contact the company until they are brought back to work, if at all.
Lib Dems Failing to Help Residents
Currently there are no steps in place to help the hundreds of affected residents and both SDEN and the Lib Dems are no longer working actively with the estate. The New Mill Quarters Residents Association has a truly terrifying timeline of events hosted on their website detailing the scale of the problem.
The issues around SDEN and the Lib Dem approach to district heating was picked up back in 2015 by other local news outlets however the Lib Dems have failed to act half a decade on.
To date, the estate has had strong support from the Carshalton and Wallington Labour party as well as other local bodies and continues to fight back against the Lib Dems even voting to exclude them in entirety from canvassing on the estate due to the politically funded publishing of misinformation.
Recent boundary changes to Hackbridge and Wandle Valley indicate that a sharp change in councillors is coming as the area realises that the Lib Dems are not working in the interest of residents.
Sutton Insight & the Carshalton & Wallington Labour party recently reached out to both SDEN and the Lib Dems concerning their Disability Discrimination and is fighting to secure change on behalf of residents.