Problems with DWP

[Margaret W]

Well folks, they have cancelled all my mum's entitlement to any pension credit whatsoever. They have stated that they made a mistake when they considered her situation on 30 October despite being in full possession of the facts that she was in a Care Home and and sold her house for £130,000. They feel they are entitled to cancel their initial decision which was made in error and impose a new one which means she doesn't even get the £11-odd she was getting before. So she is now paying full fees in the Care Home and has no pension credit at all. I am awaiting them asking for a refund of benefit over paid of about £1,000. How on earth they expect me to finance £460 a week (which let's face it isn't particularly high) with no financial help from anywhere, I do not know. Using the money from the sale of her houe will last about 7 years, goodbye. Then she will be "fully funded" which is a laugh cos it means she will be funded up to the figure the Local Authority agree to, which is currently £100 a week short of the Care Home fees, and those have to be paid by us. Hands up everyone who has £5,200 a year spare to top up the fees of their relative, and also pay for incidental expenses, which mount up more than you think. 2 boxes of Cranberry juice a week, contstant replacement of missing soap, boxes of tissues (she has a constantly running nose), a bed throw cos she is cold in bed, tights which go missing at every wash (nowhere to put a name in tights), £800 for new teeth, £200 for new glasses, oh I am fed up with it all.

I am so furious I don't know what to think or do. The DWP made the decision, I made plans accordingly. Now another 10 hours is needed on the spreadsheet to re-jig transfers in and out of accounts.

The laugh is that they say she will earn £280 a week from her lump sum of £140,000. I wish! That is at least £100 a week higher than reality. Plus they have refused to accept that the investment we have made into a Care Home Fees plan should be disregarded as their is no cash benefit at all until the plan kicks in in three years time. One of you kind readers told me it would be disregarded - well, not so.

I am in despair now.

And not least cos mum said today "I can't stay here much longer, I hate it". "Why mum?", "I want to be back in my own home and I am going to do it". What do I say? I cried all the way home. Yeah I know, you all go through it, it is a constant battle, but I am not sure I am strong enough to deal with it.

ADvice gratefully received.

Margaret

 

[jenniferpa]

Dear Margaret,

I assume that the £280 is derived from that stupid idea of tariff income? That really irritated me as well.

I don't have any words of wisdom I'm afraid - my mother never was eligible for pension credit. Your mother is receiving AA correct? I used to worry myself sick over what would happen when mummy's money ran out - as it happened that was an unnecessary fear, not that that's a happy thought.

As to the annuity - CRAG is quite clear about that so you need to go back and direct them to it. Your question (I believe) was whether an annuity would be counted towards capital. The answer to that is no

"

Disregarded indefinitely

6.028 The capital assets listed below are disregarded indefinitely:

• property in specified circumstances (see Section 7)

• surrender value of any:

• life insurance policy Schedule 4 para.13

• annuity Schedule 4 para.9

"

but it will be considered income when it starts to be paid out

Payments under an annuity

6.037 Any payment under an annuity will be treated as income (see 8.013). In cases of doubt councils
should seek their own legal advice.

You're going to have to print CRAG out and wave it in front of them I'm afraid.


I'm really, really sorry you're dealing with a bunch of people who seem to have no idea of the rules - you are going to have to be resolute about this.

 

[chip]

Just read your post Margaret. They are trying to get everyone off benefits. I find that they all do not take into concideration care home fees. It makes me mad as well that with Council Tax you pay toward Health and Social Care so everyone gets stung twice. Perhaps we should all turn up in rags to Government with a bowl of cornflakes telling them this is what you do to us because of caring its all we can afford to eat. The Dwp wanted my husband to go back to work ? Its just awful they way they treat people. They never think what if it was me or the stress they add. ( I'm getting in the fighting mode for tomorrow)

 

[Grannie G]

If it`s any consolation Margaret, my mother was self funding and SS did let her stay in the same home once her money ran out.

Admittedly it was only for a few months before she died, but no-one would have known that.

 

[117katie]

Our MPs allowed to claim £100 per week for FOOD when away from their main home, plus £6,350 for a new bathroom, and then something like £10,000 for a new kitchen, and plus £350 for a new washing machine, up to a limit of £23,000 per year.

Each and every year that they are employed as a Member of Parliament, representing the "best interests" of their constituents?

Ok, I know there are only about 650 or so MPs, as opposed to est. 700,000 people with dementia (diagnosed) in UK, but come on!

There comes a time when we all need to say "WEMMINIT" = my old family phrase for "Wait a Moment" = this does not make sense.

But we all know that their sums don't always make sense, don't we?

Main question from me on this thread: WHO EVER TELLS US HOW THESE CHARGES ARE JUSTIFIED ... meaning charges for Care Home up to £1000 per week???? We can all book a plush hotel with staff delivering everything we need for less than that. But how come we can't know why it is acceptable to charge £1000 per week for each and every fairly undemanding resident? Don't ask me. If anyone out there knows, then please explain.

Wish you luck with this one.

Katie

 

[Clive]

Hi Margaret

You said "they have refused to accept that the investment we have made into a Care Home Fees plan should be disregarded as there is no cash benefit at all until the plan kicks in in three years time. One of you kind readers told me it would be disregarded - well, not so."


I would have thought that "the kind reader" was more likely to be right than SS.

You must have purchased this "Care Home Fees Plan" from a Financial Adviser.

Have you asked him for his advice? He will know what the situation is.


Best wishes

Clive.

 

[Margaret W]

Jennifer, yes it is that stupid tariff income, where are they allowed to get such a figure from? Have they never heard of Bank of England rates or High Street Bank rates? How did that ever come about?

I don't know what CRAG is, please tell me so I can look up individual legal points (some of which you have given to me - thanks).

Chip, well, what a thought. Maybe a national campaign is wise. Suppose we all decided NOT to look after our rellies for a day but went to London to wave the flag. Oh dear, not a possibility, no-one would suffer but our rellies and us with worry.

What can we do?

Margaret

 

[jenniferpa]

CRAG = Charging for Residential Accommodation Guide

It is the "bible" that LA's must use in this area. You can download it here
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publication...tions/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_073650

 

[chip]

Hear the DWP went on strike yesterday over pay as the poor souls only get £12500- £17700 a year for making mistakes and causing hardship. They say there will be more stikes as well. Wish i could get that as i've just had to send a letter to get them to correct them.They took my son of JSA and gave him full carers allowance which is lower, yet he was on income based JSA he should have got carers premium with JSA then they sent his P45. The system is very complicated thats why so many mistakes are made. It costs more when mistakes are made. I am on DLA but they have only given me it mobility till aug 2009 and care till 2020 that doesn't add up if i could walk no problem i wouldn't need care but they are going to check in feb next year if i still need it. In this day and age it is simple to set up a computer program that will automacitly link to all the benefits people are entitled to instead of all the paperwork. I wonder how much it costs for all the paperwork?

 

[Margaret W]

Thanks, Jennifer, I will look at that.

Katie, spot on.

Oh, Chip, what a muddle you are in. I can't really help, I wish I could, but you are right - it should all be automatic with the wonderful aid of computers.

It is no consolation to anyone, but I am a lecturer at a University and we have a new system whereby you can automatically email all the students on a module. Wonderful, I thought. So I emailed the students on my module (26 of them). 4 bounced back as "undeliverable". In the next class I asked those 4 to check what they had on record. Perfectly correct they said. 5 other students did not get the email (but it didn't bounce back to me). The rest got the email. Some got everyone else's email address too, despite the emails supposed to be "blind copies".

I send another email the next week. Some get it, some don't. Some of those who get it are those who didn't get it last time. Some of those you didn't get it are those who DID get it last time. I despair.

No wonder the DWP is in such a mess if simple systems don't work, how are more complex ones supposed to do so.

Keep plugging folks, it is dreadfully draining, but it has to be done. Maybe one day we can sit back and say "phew, I have done it", but don't hold your breath.

Love to all

Margaret

 

[Brucie]

Hi Margaret

Different people have different levels of virus and spam checking on their PCs.

Often it is the case that the unsophisticated systems simply block anything slightly out of the ordinary. You may want to see what the students have on their PCs and to allow yours through.

We all think of younger folks as very technology aware, and they are, for things like Facebook and gaming. But it is the nature of youth that ability is not automatically leavened with knowledge, and I have found many to be very ingenuous in this area.

 

[Margarita]

Well folks, they have cancelled all my mum's entitlement to any pension credit whatsoever. They have stated that they made a mistake when they considered her situation on 30 October despite being in full possession of the facts that she was in a Care Home and and sold her house for £130,000.

The reality of it is that pension credit is just a mean tested benefit , like income support .

Pension credit is income support , they just change the name to pension credit for when people are at a pensionable age .


In the year 2002 they was not such thing as pension credit, people who had a low pension would get income support to top up they pension to an income that the government think that all people of pensionable age could get, if they had not paid they full NI contribution over all they eligible working years .

( your lucky its they mistake , or they be asking you to pay it all back to them )


selling the house just generated in they eyes more money for her , they do not take into consideration that her saving is to pay her care home fees .

so now all your mother is left with must be her basic pension any pension she had from your father or not & AA, so they think that is enough income for her to live on also with the money the sale of the house generated more money for her , you must know that .

Anyway

The laugh is that they say she will earn £280 a week from her lump sum of £140,000. I wish! That is at least £100 a week higher than reality. Plus they have refused to accept that the investment we have made into a Care Home Fees plan should be disregarded as their is no cash benefit at all until the plan kicks in in three years time. One of you kind readers told me it would be disregarded - well, not so.

They don't care how the money was invested for future .

Did you not know before your mother claim pension credit that it was a mean tested benefit like income support ?

because I never new also , till my mother claim it in 05 .

They took my son of JSA and gave him full carers allowance which is lower, yet he was on income based JSA he should have got carers premium with JSA then they sent his P45. The system is very complicated thats why so many mistakes are made. It costs more when mistakes are made

I new that would of happen , because with the old system they had it was much easy , when you a career they did not expect you to sigh on be looking for work while your caring , that why they sent your son P45 back .

Then you apply for income support, so you get carers premium from the income support to top up your carers allowance , to an allowance the government say that you can live on while caring . I am sure you can still do that .

 

[Margaret W]

Dear Margharita

Yes, I know all that now. My issue is that they said she had an Assessed Income Period from 6th August 2007 to 5th August 2012, during which time any changes in capital or income did not need to be reported. They made that decision in the full knowledge that she had sold her house. Now they are going back on the decision. I cannot see how they can be so crass as to make a wrong decision, binding for 5 years, without checking everything out first.

I imagine I have lost. Mum will be paying all for her care. As you say, state pension and AA, if that is the law then that is the law. I am just angered by the fact that mum's care is all seen as "hotel costs", when 24-hour observation is, to me, a nursing requirement, as is application of creams to her sore areas, as is dispensing of medication. She cannot do these things herself. To me they are nursing care, mental nursing perhaps rather than physical nursing, i.e. they are caused because of her mental state.

I don't understand how a distinction can be made for nursing needs as a result of physical needs as opposed to mental needs. It is all nursing care to me. That is why mum is there.

Regards

Margaret