Hi. I'm sure someone will advise you soon. I don't have experience of this but it doesn't sound right. Is your stepdad in a care home? Is it the local authority's finance team who've told you this? You could tell them you can do nothing until you have POA - and SS have the duty of care.
Thank you for your response,my stepfather was in hospital for seven weeks, he had limited mobility before he was admitted after a near fatal infection he now has virtually no mobility left, unable to walk or feed himself,doublerly incontinent and had dementia before he went into hospital.
After about the fifth week he had made sufficient recovery, the doctors could do no more for him, he was referred to social services who assessed him and recommended he went into permanent nursing care.
The hospital wanted his bed as he was considered what they refer to as bed blocking. I was given the assessment forms to fill in and before this was completed he was being offered nursing homes.
I panicked a bit as ss we’re recommending homes that were miles away and my mother was getting very distressed about how we were going to visit him, neither of us can drive. Eventually they did offer us a local home in centre of town so we jumped at the opportunity.
The care home so far have been lovely, caring and accommodating. I felt ss didn’t waste any time, we accepted offer on the Friday and he was moved early Saturday morning.
I cannot get access to bank accounts so had to apply for POA, I phoned the local authority to inform them.
I received a letter yesterday to say until I get POA he will be charged full care costs which he cannot afford, l thought they would not expect him to pay anything below the threshold of £14.000, I am deeply troubled by this and finding at this early stage out of my depth.