Hi,
Does anyone claim these as part of their financial assessment with direct payments? Apparently councils and social workers are ignoring the care act 2013 because they expect your DLA or PIP to pay for expenses for your disability.
Hi Pipsy.
DLA / PIP are designed to pay for some of the " Costs " of diability … albeit no one will say the current rate is enough.
What expenses had you in mind ?
Independent Lives … on disability relayed expenses vis-à-vis LAs … usually funded through Direct Payments if one qualifies :
https://www.independentlives.org/disability-related-expenses-explained
Postings and threads elsewhere will reveal the meltdown in LAs nationwide , with reports , almost daily , of the provisions
of the Care Act 2014 being ignored … I will post a few links if required.
The failure of the said Care Act is now accepted by carees / carers alike … but not by our supporting organisations.
Therein lies the problem … we know first hand !!!
Just let me , and others , know if the above assists ?
I’ll try to find the relevant references for you when I get a chance. It’s a simple question, but not a simple answer.
Have you already had a Financial Assessment?
Did they give you a WRITTEN explanation of how they arrived at the figure they want you to pay?
That’s the starting point. Find the paper and then share what they have allowed for already, not the amounts.
It’s not for me its for someone i care for who gets an individual budget from the LA, however DRE wasn’t explained at the time nor was the carers input given. It was all streamlined to get the cheapest private care company to take over rather than really understanding the needs of the person.
I was reading this website it opened my eyes I didn’t know something like this existed.
Also, I was watching Caroline appeal using a solicitor Irwin Mitchell to claim expenses:-
This is also in the USA
If you Google “Charging for Care” you should find a section on financial assessments, working out the contribution someone has to pay the LA for their care. If you have disability related expenses, i.e. chiropody, extra laundry etc., they should consider these as part of the assessment. The aim is that you should always have a certain amount, it used to be £140, to live off after expenses.
How they calculate Direct Payments is different from this process.
Hi Pipsy.
Link you posted to the Disability Living Alliance mirror images the link I posted to Independent Lives.
Both contained valuable information and guidance … including the issues mention by BB.
It’s usually the finance section who deal with this aspect, as DRE is in relation to client contribution rather than the actual direct payment.
The list of DRE is not exhaustive, I have had family members contribution reduced due to diligently listing all of his DRE. From fuel costs, to internet…annual scooter service, insurance for scooter. Costs Adaptions to motability vehicle, lifeline, extra laundry, cleaning, gardening.
The trouble is our LA adjust annually for benefit uprating which seems to wipe out the manual DRE calcs so I am forever chasing up and getting it adjusted again.
I just provide receipts and explanation of incurred DR expenditure.
Thats great news your actually getting it did you have to fight for it or did your LA offer you it?
Generally I would say I have a running battle with HCC, but the man from the Financial Assessment Unit is very pleasant and very helpful. This is the one area I never seem to have a problem! My son has allowances for his special diet, extra laundry, and recently his client contribution has been reduced by over £20 a week so that he can pay me when I take him to and from his flat for weekends home.
The first time 6 years ago, the finance people came out and the lady was very helpful, (she was ex welfare rights) and gave me suggestions of items, she also said try for everything, so long as its receipted and you have explanation I send the details every year as its paper based annually directly to LA finance and have done for the past five years, its always made a big impact to my brothers contributions. So I guess I fight for it every year.
I’m about to start a campaign about this there is so much that disabled people can claim, but they do not know about it or not told properly by social work.
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In a nutshell this is what DLA is for. My son’s DLA money is used to fund his wheelchair and pay for therapy sessions as well. Part of the money goes towards expenses for our family car. DLA should be used to cover all disability expenses. I also pay a childcare provider to work for me. I recently ordered a new piece of adaptive equipment for our home with it.
Examples of DRE
DRE can include the following but not only:
extra washing or special washing powder/conditioner for delicate skin
community alarms (pendant or wrist)
special diet
special clothing or footwear (or extra wear and tear)
additional bedding
extra heating costs
gardening
household maintenance (if you would normally have done it yourself)
any cleaning (if not part of your care plan)
internet access
any care that social services do not meet
buying and maintaining disability-related equipment
any transport costs (both for essential visits to the doctor or hospital, but also to keep up social contacts).
chairlift insurance
life cover insurance if premium is higher due to illness/disability
Other costs may also be accepted. The courts have confirmed that local authorities should not be inflexible but should always consider individual circumstances. For example, an authority should not adopt a blanket policy of refusing to acknowledge payments made to close relatives, as there may be exceptional reasons for a particular arrangement.
Assessment of disability-related costs can be carried out in your own home with a personal interview. Staff should be appropriately trained in a range of benefits and be able to give advice about entitlement, help with completing forms and any follow-up action if you want this. If you prefer independent benefits advice, you should be offered this choice.
Ensuring all DRE is included: useful tips
Some local authorities set standard amounts of disability-related expenditure. If your actual expenditure significantly differs from these amounts, asked to be reassessed. The local authority should take your individual circumstances into account and consider all reasonable expenditure. When being assessed to see how much you can pay, consider everything you have to buy or pay for because of your disability. Be clear and specific as you can about what you need to spend from your disability benefit to ensure your needs are met. It may help to draw up a list of your expenditure ahead of your financial assessment or to keep a diary to ensure everything is included. Check whether you have records, such as receipts and bills, to help you work out how much you spend on your disability-related needs. It may be difficult to prove you have extra costs if you do not actually incur the expenses. For example, you may not put the heating on for fear of large bills, or are not following a special diet because of cost. Local authorities should work out an amount considered to be normal expenditure for your area and type of housing to assist their response or what you would spend if not avoiding it due to fear of high costs. You can ask for the cost of one-off items, for example a stair lift, to be included as DRE. The local authority may work out one-off expenditure by spreading the cost over the period the item is expected to last.
For example, if the item costs £1,000 and is expected to last ten years, your weekly expenditure may be worked out as £1.92. If the local authority takes this approach, it must take into account your individual circumstances and fairly reflect the cost you have incurred. If you feel that the authority has not accurately reflected your individual DRE, raise a formal complaint to challenge this.
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Disability related expenses.pdf (492 KB)
x x
It’s getting terrible the amount of abuse I have had as a carer trying to put proper services into place. I have not dealt with a worse service than the social work office.
You have to go through an MP or an agency/advocacy as they quote legislation and send out formal letters to chief officers to get them to act.
If your looking for support be sure to have copies of the care act with you and give one to them and highlight where it says its allowed and insist they show their own managers the legislation will hopefully get you somewhere, which I have experienced.
They don’t believe what you say, but what you show.
And DLA/PIP care component is factored in as income for the purposes of financial contribution for a care assessment.
I agree also with Honey, the extra cost of breaking things above normal wear and tear, my brother who’s hemiplegic, is consequently heavy handed and always breaking things such as control knobs and switches as an example. His kitchen tap was broken twice in as many months due to excessive
handing not only by him but by carers
Its only the care component of DLA/PIP that is taken as income the rest is not i understand like mobility and support group of ESA.
Also, some people I heard stop their benefits before an assessment from the LA for support so they gain more budget and hours to help them with everyday needs as you can gain upto £40-45K per year depending on needs required not income.