Live in care costs

[Ade B]

Hello
I wonder if anyone has any advice for me in relation to live in care costs.

We have recently arranged for a live in carer for my mum who has advanced alzheimers.

Initially we had private carers that we paid to visit mum 3 times a day slowly increasing the hours to a point where 24 hour care ie live in care or a care home was needed.
One of the carers puts us in touch with a lady who has a business providing live in care. I will refer to her as the 'agency' just for ease as technically thisnis what she is but it is fair to say it is the one lady we have a close relationship with.
The 'agency' made the necessary arrangements and a live in carer moved in and despite doing a great job it was felt that she was not necessarily the right fit for my mum.
The 'agency' arranged for another carer and currently it appears to be going well.

We still have a few of her original carers working on a rota to cover breaks which again we pay and pay directly to those carers.

The issue is I know that the original live in carer earned more money than the new live in carer due to her experience however our payment to the 'agency' has remained the same. It is no suprise to learn that this is hundreds of pounds extra a week.

We are self funding until we reach the £23,000 limit so with live in care costs and covering breaks it won't be long before mums savings disappear.

To be fair to the 'agency' they have offered to pay a few hours of the other carers time who cover the breaks but this feels like a very loose arrangement as they are not obliged to do this.
We knew the cost when we signed the contract but i would much prefer as much of my mums money goes to her carer and not simply as extra profit for the 'agency' solely due to the change in live in carer.

I am going to ask the 'agency' for a reduction in their fee but is there any legal basis for this ?The agency is paid by us who then pay the carer yet our contract states they do not employ the carer, we do.

Apologies for the very long first post. Any advice would be appreciated.

Kind regards

 

[SAP]

I think the agency is acting like a broker and as such will have fees to cover administrative costs. Do they manage the NI and pension payments and provide cover if a carer goes sick? If they do then I don’t think you can insist on a reduction.
My mum had live in care for a year. The agency provided all the carers and mum paid for this , no money was paid directly to the carers themselves ,they were employed by the agency.

 

[Ade B]

I think the agency is acting like a broker and as such will have fees to cover administrative costs. Do they manage the NI and pension payments and provide cover if a carer goes sick? If they do then I don’t think you can insist on a reduction.
My mum had live in care for a year. The agency provided all the carers and mum paid for this , no money was paid directly to the carers themselves ,they were employed by the agency.

Thanks for your reply its much appreciated.

I think i may look into requesting that ALL care costs are covered , including the breaks, by the agency given your own situation with your mum. I am hoping that those already in place will then simply be paid by the agency a smy mum knows these carers well and they are amazing.
To be honest I am not sure re NI or pension. I would like to think yes. Im sure they would provide sick cover particulalry to the main live in carer.
We had to rush the initial set up of live in care so in all honesty the small print was not checked.
I will look into this and then see where we stand.
Thanks again for your reply