It looks like we are relocating to the UK. My husband’s company has assigned him to their UK office, which is in Cannock, outside of Birmingham.
I’m looking for a few types of information:
[ol]
[li]Any advice or tips on moving to the UK[/li][li]Any adivce or tips on the Birmingham area[/li][li]Any information on autism services in the UK, and in that area in particular. My son is high functioning autistic, and will need services.[/li][/ol]
Thanks everyone. 
WWI and the Birmingham region was Tolkien’s inspiration for Sauron’s industrial destruction of nature* so there’s that. I hear it’s better now; Like a British Pittsburgh rather than Detroit.
Sometimes British people use the wrong word for things but they always appreciate when you correct them.
Cannock is in Staffordshire, north of Birmingham, a former mining town in what is known as The Black Country, for its coal mining history.
It’s a fairly down at heel place, so I would encourage your husband to commute from a more attractive part of the area. Lichfield is a fairly beautiful medieval Cathedral City a short distance away. In north Birmingham itself I would recommend Sutton Coldfield, an attractive and affluent suburb.
Avoid Wolverhampton, Walsall (my birth town), Wednesbury or West Bromwich, they aren’t dangerous or anything, just mightily dull.
For many years Birmingham was the butt of jokes from every other city in the country, mainly due to the accent of the locals, I fear, but in recent years it has flourished, with many large and prosperous businesses relocating from London. The city centre has scene large scale regeneration and it has a thriving cultural scene.
I’m afraid I can’t comment on autism services. I’d suggest contacting the National Autism Society who will be able to point you towards local services. http://www.autism.org.uk/
Thank you for the tips. I will look into Lichfield and Sutton Coldfield.
I have already begun checking out the NAS. They seem much more organized than anything we have here.
Birmingham? You said Bristol! :mad:
I know a few people who should be good to ask about autism services nationally, but I don’t think I know anyone in the Cannock area, and I don’t know many people in Birmingham either.
I know I said Bristol. My husband got the “B” names mixed up. :o
If you know people who know about national autism services, I’ll take it.
You should stay on the east side of the M6 unless your husband likes to spend a long time commuting.
Thank you, Quartz, I’ll add that to the list.
What about supplemental insurance for the NHS? Necessary? Helpful?
Not necessary, IMHO. Once you’re a resident, you get the same services as the rest of us. You may occasionally want to get private services (private rooms, better meals, and, yes, shorter queues for seeing a specialist), but unless that’s really important to you, you don’t really need it.
You can always pay one off, and it’s a much lower price than you’re used to. In my extended family, my mother once paid (about £100) to see a private rheumatology specialist, and no one else has ever used anything but the NHS.
My housemate has private insurance, because his Dad pays for it for the whole family; he wouldn’t bother paying himself. He did say the food was good though.
Are you all set for losing your freedom? 
One has to prepare oneself mentally for this, you know!
Not necessary. Even if you have private insurance, you would still use the NHS for GP services and emergency care. It can be helpful if you don’t want to wait for certain elective procedures or want to make sure you get a private room. Most people who have it get it as a perk through work (my partner does, but has never had need to use it. ) If you are curious about it, checkout BUPA - the UKs largest private insurer. You’ll probably be very pleasantly surprised about how cheap it is, precisely because it doesn’t replace using the NHS.
Dibs on the BMW!
We moved from Canada to the U.K. three years ago, and live in Derby, a town about 45 mins north of Birmingham.
Will you have the opportunity to make a trip over before your move? That will give you a chance to check out the towns in and around where your husband will be working. Find the area most suited to your needs and wants. I highly suggest you do this if you are able to.
We actually spent today in Birmingham. I like the city. Great places to eat, pretty canal walks, and a huge rag market that I love going to about once a month.
Will you be on a work visa? If your husbands company is paying for it all the nhs stuff will be done for you. Just find a doctors office close to you and register. We have separate insurance, but we’ve never used it.
There’s a crackdown on benefit tourism in some places. You should check that you’re not affected. Private health insurance is cheap but may exclude your child’s autism. It’s not normally needed but can turn a wait of months into a matter of days.
I had free private health insurance from my employer for 28 years.
I never used it - preferring to rely on the NHS.
And that applied even when I had suspected bowel cancer. I had superb treatment (and got the all-clear. 
) It didn’t cost me a penny (all prepaid through taxes.)
We drive on the other side of the road, we love our traffic islands (roundabouts) and we use three-pin plugs.
Birmingham? Don’t. Just don’t. Visit it, but don’t plan to live there. Cannock is an ok place but nothing special. If you’re looking for somewhere a bit nicer, try looking at Sutton Coldfield, Walmley or Lichfield. If you’re looking for a small town with a kind of village feel to it, you could look at Penkridge too.
When you find your place to live, register with the local GP surgery and they should be able to refer you on to autism services. Also, the National Autism Service can help (I see that’s already been mentioned).
I live in the West Midlands so feel free to drop me a message if you want anything specific.
Be sure to bone up on the works of the Patron Saint of Birmingham.
(I keed, although tangentially it’s worth noting that he’s a patron of Sunfield Children’s Home.)
The only thing I remember about Birmingham and its general area was that The Indo-Pak food there is great! I lived in Wolverhampton for a few months (would not recommend), but my love for subcontinental food blossomed there. That was twenty years ago, bu I expect the food there is still great. Good to hear it becoming prosperous and desirable. When I was there, I hadn’t even heard of it, even though it was (and is) the UK’s second largest city, and I could name at least a dozen UK cities and towns. I’d love to revisit.
I winced a bit there, as ‘Paki’ is a bad racial slur in the UK. We’d call it South Asian (or more likely just generic ‘curry’).
Actually, Paki is used as a noun for the fine eating establishment itself by those who like that sort of thing.
“Just nipping dahn to the paki, Dave, wanaything yoursel’ ?”
I’d never call it South Asian, South Asian to me means S-E Asian, where the dawn comes up like thunder 'crost the Bay. Personally I’d call it Pakistani.
Then again I don’t care for spiced food.
And I thought Joe Chamberlain was Brum’s Patron Saint. Accounting for brummies wearing orchids and monocles to this day.
However he did brill as a municipal socialist back in the 1870s.