Dad's financial assessment/court letter received

[mrsmagsey]

I'll try to keep this as clear/brief as possible!
I just wondered if anyone had any advice please?

My Dad has lewy bodies dementia and was financially assessed and had carers visits twice a day.

In March 23' the Council reassessed and said from April it would be considerably more. My Mum cancelled the care (even though it was needed really) as she felt it was unaffordable/too high going forward.

The Council then sent an invoice and actually meant they owe it from April 22'! Meaning nearly £2000.
I queried with them how this was fair, how can they possibly backdate it that far, they replied the legislation doesn't state a time scale.

We ignored it for a while, as they can't afford to repay it and it went quiet.
None of it made sense as nothing had significantly changed in his/their finances so I personally think they were never assessed correctly initially. We did ask for this to be looked at but the new reassessment was not correct (which says it all!)

My Mum couldn't stop worrying about it, so after several months we went to citizens advice hoping they could fight their case. Sadly they haven't helped at all and now the letters from the Council have started.
They have received one yesterday threatening court action.

Obviously my Dad is mostly unaware of the distress and worry this has caused, but my poor Mum, didn't sleep last night, worrying about it all.

 

[SAP]

Did you dad pay for his original care package? Did he , at the time have savings over £23,500 or between this and approx £14,000 . If so then he would have needed to pay in full or contribute towards his care. Remember it is just your dad’s money/ savings that count and this includes his pensions.
Have you spoken with social services about this or the finance department, it’s not uncommon for social workers to not understand the funding but the finance dept should be able to explain the situation clearly. If it transpires that your dad does own money for his past care then ask if there can be some arrangement to pay off in instalments.

 

[mrsmagsey]

Did you dad pay for his original care package? Did he , at the time have savings over £23,500 or between this and approx £14,000 . If so then he would have needed to pay in full or contribute towards his care. Remember it is just your dad’s money/ savings that count and this includes his pensions.
Have you spoken with social services about this or the finance department, it’s not uncommon for social workers to not understand the funding but the finance dept should be able to explain the situation clearly. If it transpires that your dad does own money for his past care then ask if there can be some arrangement to pay off in instalments.

Thanks for the reply. They've never had any savings. Yes he had a partial contribution (a minimum/maximum of £100 a week say) which was paid, then it massively jumped after the reassessment, after no real change in his finances (apart from small annual increases)

 

[Rishile]

Letters threatening Court Proceedings are generally automatic letters and are just designed to scare you into doing something. You should ring the financial department to discuss this and either confirm whatever is agreed in writing or ask for them to confirm in writing or both. Please do not ignore it but don't worry about it unduly and try to convince your mother that she shouldn't worry about it either.

If, for some reason, this does go to Court in the future you must not ignore it but the letter will be a lot more official than the one you have received.

 

[mrsmagsey]

Letters threatening Court Proceedings are generally automatic letters and are just designed to scare you into doing something. You should ring the financial department to discuss this and either confirm whatever is agreed in writing or ask for them to confirm in writing or both. Please do not ignore it but don't worry about it unduly and try to convince your mother that she shouldn't worry about it either.

If, for some reason, this does go to Court in the future you must not ignore it but the letter will be a lot more official than the one you have received.

Thank you, it's all very unknown as we've never had letters like this so it is scary, I have managed to calm her down a bit now.
I have emailed social care and they have passed the query on to the financial department so I'm hoping that we'll get a correct financial assessment (at last) that we can compare the initial one with.
As far as we can see the only change in Dad's income is attendance allowance so the massive change in contribution just doesn't make sense.