Hello, I'm going to try my best, not to ramble. Hoping that someone can point me in the right direction regarding a dispute with the local authority, and my mum's care home fees.
Mum (who has vascular dementia) moved into her lovely care home in July 2022. The local authority financial assessment team at that time, assessed my mum's income and savings. Mum & dad own their own bungalow, and dad still lives there today. They told my brother and I that mums state pension would be taken by DD every month to contribute towards care home fees, but that mum would be left with around £25 per week for her personal use (hairdressing and chiropractor at the home). We were told my dad's state pension, AA & work pension would not be touched to pay for mums care fees. Fast forward TO early April 2024. As my dad's carer, I had a call from City Council debt collection team, telling me that the direct debit from mum and dad's joint bank account for care fees had be declined. I have POA and after a difficult process managed to get x3 months back bank statements. the debt team, told me that the monthly fee taken by DD from mum and dad's bank account is around £888. My mum only has her state pension of around £400 per month. Double what mum's income is. They have therefore been taking mums £400 SP and the other £400 from my dad's income made up from SP, AA and Work Pension. I e mailed immediately and asked why they are taking my dad's money. Within 5 minutes of sending the e mail, I had a call. The officer said, they assumed mum was in receipt of Pension Credit of £200 per week and that was included with the original financial assessment. The bank statements I included with my original e mail verifies that my mum does not, and has never had Pension Credit. They advised me to apply online for it for my mum and ask for it to be backdated to August of 2022. This, I did immediately. A phone call from Pension Credit two days later said the most that would be backdated is x3 months not 2 years. How do i get my dad's money back??? This is an appalling situation leavi g my father through no fault of his own, in very dire straits. The council have taken his money when they had no right to do so.
Mum (who has vascular dementia) moved into her lovely care home in July 2022. The local authority financial assessment team at that time, assessed my mum's income and savings. Mum & dad own their own bungalow, and dad still lives there today. They told my brother and I that mums state pension would be taken by DD every month to contribute towards care home fees, but that mum would be left with around £25 per week for her personal use (hairdressing and chiropractor at the home). We were told my dad's state pension, AA & work pension would not be touched to pay for mums care fees. Fast forward TO early April 2024. As my dad's carer, I had a call from City Council debt collection team, telling me that the direct debit from mum and dad's joint bank account for care fees had be declined. I have POA and after a difficult process managed to get x3 months back bank statements. the debt team, told me that the monthly fee taken by DD from mum and dad's bank account is around £888. My mum only has her state pension of around £400 per month. Double what mum's income is. They have therefore been taking mums £400 SP and the other £400 from my dad's income made up from SP, AA and Work Pension. I e mailed immediately and asked why they are taking my dad's money. Within 5 minutes of sending the e mail, I had a call. The officer said, they assumed mum was in receipt of Pension Credit of £200 per week and that was included with the original financial assessment. The bank statements I included with my original e mail verifies that my mum does not, and has never had Pension Credit. They advised me to apply online for it for my mum and ask for it to be backdated to August of 2022. This, I did immediately. A phone call from Pension Credit two days later said the most that would be backdated is x3 months not 2 years. How do i get my dad's money back??? This is an appalling situation leavi g my father through no fault of his own, in very dire straits. The council have taken his money when they had no right to do so.