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007paul007

Please help other like me

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Hi all

 

I have not been on here for a long while due to a number of reasons, but I have come back today hoping that people will post the link to a news story i am involved in. I was even on 3 counties radio thursday morning. You can read most in the paper but the local council have started charging my son for respite care for us how of his esa benefit, he has one day a week 3pm-9am & one full weekend a month Fri 3pm-mon 9am. All we got was a letter saying some users may be charge & some not way back in march, we got the same letter 3 weeks ago, we never had an assessment or nothing. After my sons weekend stay, first weekend of every month we got a bill, yes a bill after the fact. We cannot send our son to respite as we don't know how much we will have to charge. They admitted we never had an assessment as day care centre charge were zero due to low income, so they made some figures up around £19 for rent, council tax, gas & electric a week took this off ESA which they calculated to be £115 a week, which again was wrong, they also took off £24.40 the government say he can live on a week & what was left resulted in being the charge. We are nowhere near getting this sorted & my son has been a nightmare, I spoke to the respite place on the day we recieved the bill & was told they had been contacted by all parents who were gobsmacked. I am hoping my plight will reach the other carers/parents & that we can do something about it.

 

If you are on Facebook please post this story to your wall & ask others to share even twitter as well if you can tweet it & ask others to RT it, who knows your tweet or facebook post could just be the one that reaches a care/parent in Milton Keynes area or even other areas. It could make a difference I think its time to fight back against what is happening to the vulnerable, disabled & people who suffer with severe learning difficulties.

 

http://www.mkweb.co.uk/News/Milton-Keynes-father-Paul-Ridley-says-he-cannot-afford-sons-respite-care-after-receiving-retrospective-bill-20140714172556.htm

 

 

Thank you for helping me & others like me

 

Paul Ridley

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As they are local authority employees who have not assessed and who are charging you, you can complain to the local governments ombudsman. You would need to lodge a complaint first with your local authority and follow their complaints procedure, and then contact the LGO.

 

If it is an NHS related charge you can complain via the Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman. You would speak to them for advice on how to lodge a complaint. I believe you have to write to your MP first and they send it onto the Ombudsman. But please check.

 

My understanding is that Social Care is required to provide respite or Direct Payments.

 

How have their explained the charge?

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They never assessed us the Council agreed to charge for respite and it should of been implemented in april but started in July instead. They contacted the Social workers to see the charge for day care which was nil and they then just put figures together using the crag system, they did not even have the right amount of ESA on the form & took out net rent, council tax, gas & electric then took out £24.40 which is is personal allowance according to government. That left £71.57 which is what they charged for the week. They said it would be £10.22 a night which is a 7th £71.57 but for a weekend break of Fri-Mon it would be a full week charge as Sunday is the start of a new benefit week. I know other carers/parents phone up respite the same as i got the bill so this sound really worrying that's why I am trying to get this tweeted many times & also shared on Facebook so i can maybe reach them & give them an idea of what to do. I have Councillors & my MP involved, apparently they could not tell us how much it would be beforehand as they had to wait for respite to say when my son checked in & out but they could of told us if we had asked a social worker for a pre charge, which they did not tell us about until after the event. This is so mucked up !!!

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Why are they charging for respite? My son gets respite and isn't charged for it. How old is your son? And if he is on ESA how come he needs respite because that sounds like he is not employable?

 

Find out if you can complain to the Local Governments Ombudsman. They can investigate complaints against local authorities and their employees [which includes social services]. And if they find in your favour they can order the LA to pay you compensation.

 

Our local authority delayed the implementation of respite and were ordered to pay us £700 compensation.

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Why are they charging for respite? My son gets respite and isn't charged for it. How old is your son? And if he is on ESA how come he needs respite because that sounds like he is not employable?

 

Find out if you can complain to the Local Governments Ombudsman. They can investigate complaints against local authorities and their employees [which includes social services]. And if they find in your favour they can order the LA to pay you compensation.

 

Our local authority delayed the implementation of respite and were ordered to pay us £700 compensation.

They decided to charge after a flawed consultation last year, they are cutting services, even today they are cutting disabled parking bays in MK by 30%, think it is hit disabilities time. I will be putting in a formal complaint after reassessment tomorrow, then after that I can go to the ombudsmen. Yes he is not employable, the respite is for us the carers according to MKC website but the user is the one who is charged. Apparently a lot of councils are starting to charge now, there other excuse now is that disabled people have been paying for respite for some now so they must charge People with severe learning difficulties otherwise it would seem as discrimination. Just want people to share & like this on Facebook or tweet the story on twitter & ask others to retweet it trying to reach other the other carers so we can get a campaign going & start a petition. Sue Marsh & Nell McAndrew have retweeted it so fingers crossed

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I think that firstly you need to find out IF you should be being charged at all for this service. My understanding is that the government is legally required to provide "short breaks" by law. And I don't know if that can cover respite. Respite can be for the individual or for the family members. Again I don't know what the criteria is for this, and whether you could get it free another way.

 

For example, Direct Payments? Then you pay for the respite with the direct payments. You are not charged for direct payments.

 

If your son is unemployable, is ESA the right benefit for that? I don't know as things have changed so much. If he is unemployable, I presume he also gets Disability Living Allowance? And is he getting that at the right level?

 

If your son gets DLA that makes you eligible for Carers Allowance, and may help reduce your Council Tax bill etc.

 

I would suggest that you have a complete benefits check. There maybe someone at Citizens Advice that is an expert on benefits, or sometimes there is a independent section at your local authority that can look at your situation and finances and check that you are getting all the benefits you are entitled to. They should also be able to tell you if it is right that you are being charged for respite.

 

This is a link to another website that should also be able to give you some good advice. They helped me to get Social Services to carry out a Core Assessment on my son and also a Carers Assessment for myself. Social Services are supposed to assess on need, and provide a service or Direct Payments. We are not being charged for the respite we have, or the Direct Payments we are finally going to receive.

 

Remember that all local authorities can have their own "criteria" for accessing services, and for charging for those services. But that might not make them legal. If they are failing to provide what you and your son are legally entitled to receive, then the Ombudsman will step in. But first you have to prove that you have followed your own local authorities complaints procedure.

 

So I would recommend you contact this organisation, http://disabilityrightsuk.org/how-we-can-help

and also your local Citizens Advice.

 

I understand that you are wanting to raise awareness of your situation. But that is not going to change the situation you are in. You need to get organisations involved that can tell you what you are legally entitled to and whether your local authority has acted legally or not and what you can do about it.

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no probs got all that behind me, even told that if complaint does reach the ombudsmen there will be a 99% chance of finding it in my favour.

Sally what LA are you referring to that was done by the ombudsmen ?

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