Social Services - financial question

[stardust123]

Does anyone know if Social Services have the ability / right to gain access to personal Bank Accounts (ie. those of my father who may be going into full time care). Or is it just up to us to tell them and then they take our word as true ?
Would the bank refuse to give them information or do they hold this information as confidential to everyone ? Thanks all.

 

[jenniferpa]

This is speculation you understand but: I don't think the bank would hand over the information but I suspect that there may be other ways that this information could be tracked. For a start and income would be tracked by the Inland Revenue and/or pension service. Plus, of course, they may well ask you for documentation to back up any statements, and if you fail to provide it, then then no social services funding will be forthcoming. Lets put it this way: I'm sure they've seen every type of creative financing effort, and equally sure that that they have ways to check.

 

[connie]

If the local authority are funding your father they will ask for the information they need from whoever controls his finances, especially if someone is holding his Power of Attorney.

I am not aware that they would approach the banks direct.

Usually they require such things as bank/building society statements, and other relevant information on pensions etc.

 

[jack29]

When Dad was transfered from hospital to NH 6 weeks ago I was told that SS would contact me to do an assessment of Dad's financial situation as he is being funded by them. To-date I have not heard a thing from them.I am paying a top-up of £20 per week for the NH he has moved to but I really dont mind as it's 110% better than the one SS insisted he went to. I suppose they will contact me eventually to do the assessment and hopefully by then I will be made his appointee by the DWP as I have a meeting with them on 19/05..

In answer to your question I was told that SS would want to see bank statements and any private pension details. But they dont seem in a rush to sort this out

 

[stardust123]

Hi

Thanks everyone, information has been really useful.

 

[Clive]

Hi Stardust

I had an Aunt who had been self funding in a Nursing Home. Her savings had been used up quite quickly, and Social Services had to take over paying.

Social Services could not see where my Aunt’s money had been spent. They went to court and took over the Power of Attorney and what was left of Auntie’s money (which they administered for my Aunt.)

They also informed the Police and there was a police enquire. The Police have no problems finding out what is in any bank account.
In the end the police inquire just fizzled out as they could not prove any wrongdoing.

Clive

 

[Helena]

I was speaking to a Social Worker last week who said
"if you dont tell us we dont know " !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She said many elderly people are in care homes paid for by LA and their true financial status has never been revealed

I believe that Banks etc are actually in breach of Data Protection if they give out any information to 1/3rd parties

 

[Sandy]

Hi stardust123,

Part of the financial assessment process involves filling out a lengthy form which will ask for details of assets and income and other things.

If you look on your council's website you might even be able to find a copy of the form and the instructions for completing it. Usually councils will send out a financial assessment officer to complete the form, but it can be helpful in advance to know what information they will need.

The standard requirement is to see recent bank/building society/etc. statements to verify the figures.

Also, when the form is completed it requires a signature from the person being assessed, or someone holding power of attorney. This signature will follow a number of statements to the effect that all the information is accurate to the best of their knowledge.

There will also usually be a statement saying that you authorise the council to make all necessary enquiries to verify the data provided - such as contacting the Dept for Work and Pensions or the Inland Revenue.

You can see a few example forms (as PDF files) using the following links:

http://www.croydon.gov.uk/content/departments/570788/570914/finassmtfrm.pdf

http://www.tameside.gov.uk/corpgen/new/hq115a.pdf

So the short answer is that if you have a financial assessment you do need to be completely truthful.

Take care,

Sandy

 

[Natashalou]

I was speaking to a Social Worker last week who said
"if you dont tell us we dont know " !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She said many elderly people are in care homes paid for by LA and their true financial status has never been revealed

I believe that Banks etc are actually in breach of Data Protection if they give out any information to 1/3rd parties

As an ex SW im pretty appalled by this. Frankly that social worker deserves to lose his or her job. At the point of disclosure, no, SS wont know what they arent told but it will almost certainly come out at some point at which case to have deliberatly lied is fraudulant.
The system where I used to work was to ask for bank statements,
DWP information, tax code notifications and proof of residence (to confirm occupation status in property as owner or tenant) for a minimum of three and sometimes five years.
The only circumstances in which I can think there could possibly be any cause for not being truthful and even tually being found out would be a genuine case of not knowing about a savings account.
Although my mother is fully self funding this genuinly happened to me recently when I came across a very old savings book I didnt know had ever existed..mum had over 19k squirreled away although she had stopped saving in 2004 .
Had she been LA funded, I wouldnt have mentioned this money at the assesment stage as I knew nothing about it, but would have felt obligated to come clean and advise of her "windfall"

 

[jenniferpa]

I'm with Natasha on this one. To be fair, I suspect that the social worker has no idea what she's talking about, bearing in mind that in most LAs, the financial side and its interpretation is separate from the actual social work side. In other words: the social worker likely has no real idea of what is asked for in terms of documentation past the initial questionnaire. If, on the other hand, what the social worker said is true about his/her LA, that they don't ask for support documentation, then no doubt it won't be a problem for long: the LA will run out of funds to pay for anyone.

I think what we have here is rumour and conjecture and that idea that someone, somewhere is "getting away" with something that others are not. While I'm sure that some people commit fraud, it's not a crime I would be willing to contemplate.