Hi ,
I have a20 year old son who lives at home. He had cerebral Palsy , learning difficulties is deaf and communicates by BSL . He attends a college with assisted learning for 3 days per week and has 121 support.
He receives PIP High rate for both categories and UC .
He was recently awarded Direct Payments from LA for Social care and activities 10 hours per week . We have now now recieved the financial part stating he has to contribute nearly £100 per week .
I have been looking into this and CHC came up and wondered if he would qualify . I have read that a financial assessment shouldn’t have been carried out without a CHC assessment first .
It looks like a minefield!!
I would appreciate any help.Thanks
Carol, your authority should do a Needs Assessment etc. for your son that assesses his needs. Not taking into consideration any family input.
Have you got everything in writing?
Google “Legal Aid” plus the name of your town, and go for one specialising in Community Care or the Care Act. Assuming your son’s only income is benefits, he should be entitled to Legal Aid as the LA is failing to meet it’s statutory duties.
Google 2014 Care Act, buy an ink cartridge, and print the whole thing off, put it in a ring binder, and then go through it with a highlighter pen. You will be amazed at what they should be doing that they haven’t done!
Hi,
He did have an assessment ( social
Worker told us we were saving them a fortune as we do everything !) we only wanted a PA to get get him out of the house as he is very isolated . They originally said 5 hours but went up to 10 . His sister is the PA as it is difficult regarding communication and don’t think many PAs with BSL would work for the hourly rate that was awarded . .
He has had nothing for years and now he has to pay toward support. It just seems very unfair.
Yes his only income is his benefits.
When were the Needs Assessments and Carers Assessments last updated?
Were you told how much it would cost to meet his needs?
Do you have written copies of the assessments?
Hi Carol,
It sounds like he is paying the total cost of his care.
His needs are complex and if he requires BSL trained staff, then that needs to be in his assessment and paid for (whether it costs social care more than usual or not, they do have to exceptions. )
You can request CHC funding. Social care are more likely to push for this in the case of bigger packages, hoping the cost will come out of the NHS money pot rather than theirs! It’s best to read everything you can about it first, as the NHS will protecting their pot of cash too!
There is info here NHS Continuing Healthcare | Carers UK
Melly1
Be very cafeful going for a carers assessment before a needs assessment. I done this and they used my carers assessment as amunition to prevent my brother getting a direct payment that he was already part of the system they close your file and make you start from scratch. They state there is a conflict of interest from your carers assessment when the asessment is about you not the person you care for but in their world they link and join them together. So, if you fail a carers assessment they will use that to fail your cared for persons needs assessment imo.
Do the needs assessment first then come back to carers assessment is what I should of done.
Agreed.
How can you say what support you need before you know what your carees assessed need is, what services they are likely to get?