Earlier this year I was told that any money allocated for my care following a care assessment of my needs and then a financial assessment would need to be paid into a separate bank account. I didn't end up getting it as my care assessment failed to recognize the need for help in getting my papers together for the FA
They also wanted me to sign a document saying that they could change care provider whenever they chose.
I'm sorry your application was unsuccessful Sue. It must be so frustrating for you.
My mum gets Direct Payments from her LA and these have to go into a separate bank account that is only used to pay care costs. Every 3 months I have to submit receipts, bank statements and a quarterly budget account. This account must also show that my mum is contributing to her own care costs, and that the LA isn't footing 100% of the bill.
At the time I set it all up I used the pre-existing bank account that already had the DWP payments going into it. I didn't have POA so it would have been difficult to set up yet another bank account for my mum who had negligible mental capacity by that time.
This has all worked fine for 7 years but now we are preparing our first Annual Account for the OPG as her legal guardians. The OPG don't want to see the account for the Direct Payments which they say should be totally separate and not under their scrutiny. Well it can be, provided I can get the DWP money to arrive in her main bank account in future. Then OPG will be able to see that she is getting her DWP pensions and benefits without monitoring the other bank account.
Sigh........ So at the end of Year 2 I think what OPG will audit is the evidence of large amounts of dosh being shovelled out of her main account and transferred across to her carer account, but they will no longer be monitoring how all that money is spent. The LA checks that the figures add up and that the money is being spent on care, but that's a narrow type of monitoring. The LA isn't taking a holistic view of her overall income, her estate, her living arrangements etc. which I, in my naivety, thought the OPG would be doing. Hey ho. It's an interesting learning curve.