To every single person who has signed, shared, and commented on this petition - thank you.
When I first started this campaign, I was acting out of sheer desperation for my son. Over the last few days, my family and I have been completely overwhelmed by the massive response. But more than anything, we have been heartbroken reading your messages. Hearing how many other families have been put through the exact same nightmare is devastating.
Many of you asked for the hard proof behind the claims I made about the Council's "Try Our Luck" strategy. Today, as promised, I am releasing it to the public.
I have compiled a comprehensive Public Interest Dossier titled "The Architecture of Deflection."
📄 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C1ATMi-dImcFDJNO8G2qpN3qczCwSDnF/view?usp=drive_link
What is in this report?
To protect the sensitive data of my son - and the other children whose confidential medical data the Council recklessly leaked to me - I cannot publish the raw files. Instead, this forensic report quotes the "smoking gun" internal emails (obtained via Subject Access Requests) and cross-references them with the Council's own financial policies.
The "Delivering Better Value" Betrayal
Crucially, the report exposes how the Council has weaponized the government's "Delivering Better Value" (DBV) programme.
This program is supposed to be about "Early Intervention" - giving children support sooner so their needs don't spiral. My analysis shows Derby City Council has flipped this upside down. They are using these tools to:
- Raise thresholds so high that children must be in crisis before they get help.
- Delay support by instructing staff to "try their luck" and gamble with legal deadlines.
- Gatekeep funding using unlawful "Matrix" grids.
They took a program meant to help children, and used it to build a machine that denies them.
Join the Discussion on Reddit
I have just posted a full breakdown of the evidence on the r/Derby community.
We are building a collection of stories from other local families who have been blocked by these tactics. If you want to see the discussion, ask me questions directly, or share your own experience anonymously, please join us there:
https://www.reddit.com/r/derby/comments/1r7yzih/update_you_asked_for_the_evidence_against_derby/
For too long, they relied on us being too exhausted to fight back. They miscalculated.
We are stronger together.
Samuel Melrose