Hi
Looking for some advice in regard to the new system of charging for services.
My 86 year old father has a type of dementia and is cared for by my 80 year old mother who also cares for my 40 year old brother with cerebral palsy (although he is reasonable independent). They live on the Isle of Wight but almost all the family is far away, several being overseas.
Before Covid the council provided a range of services including respite and day care that gave her a break. A few years back they changed the funding method so the money is paid in respect to my dad and my brother and the council deducts from this charges for the services they use.
The problem is the council is not supplying the services they appear to be charging for (not available because of a range of reasons, Covid, cost, staff shortages etc etc…)
The situation is becoming very difficult with the household going from crises to crises, most recently they have all caught Omicron (all fully vaccinated and vulnerable) and at the moment even the few services provide have been withdrawn.
We as a family supply some financial support but augmented with the money taken by the council it should be possible to source more private support
Do the council actually have to provide any services for the money they deduct? Is there a standard way we can address this problem? We have waited for over a year for a resolution but there is no sign of them finding any solution to this lack of services and it appears they are still deducting charges and now at an even higher rate.
Thanks in anticipation of advice.
Are ALL the services withdrawn?
If so the council are entirely out of order. In fact, it’s surely fraud?
My son has care from Hampshire, every month he has a letter explaining what services he is receiving, and then their calculation of his “Client Contribution”.
The only services they have received for probably closer to two years are at home provided support, providing bathing or sitting support while mum goes out shopping a total of a few hours a week. (less during the height of covid).
These have just been suspended while they have Covid, while this is of course a very bad time to withdraw these services, as they need more support when ill, it is understandable as the carers do not want to become carriers to other vulnerable people.
We are just hoping that they recover soon and I have sent some tests to them (no longer available online apparently) so that they can report they are clear and get support again as soon as possible,
I have asked mum to send me all the paperwork so I can analyse it, does it usually itemise a cost for everything? Then I will be able to determine if they are just increasing the costs for the services they do provide or still charging for services they don’t provide. Although I have ben told the costs have actually increased and the service gone down significantly.
Is this something anyone else has seen?
Dear Andrew
I would suggest you contact our Carers UK’s helpline should you need advice or support - Our Telephone Helpline is available on 0808 808 7777 from Monday to Friday, 9am – 6pm or you can contact us by email (advice@carersuk.org)
Secondly, I wanted to welcome to our forum, I’m not sure if you are aware but we are currently running a series of online weekly meet ups for carers to get together and chat informally. People say they’ve found it really helpful and supportive and it’s nice to be able to take a little bit of time for yourself. There’s no pressure to share any more than you’re comfortable with. Join up details are here:
https://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/get-support/online-meetups
We are also now running a weekly Share and Learn sessions, where we run a series of fun and relaxed online sessions where visiting speakers who share tips and skills on a range of topics - please have a look at the link and see if one grabs your attention.
https://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/get-support/share-and-learn-online-sessions
Do join if you’d like to, we’ve had a lot of new carers join the sessions recently and it’s a great way to meet other carers.
with best wishes
Ingrid