Care home scam

Mrs_pbradley936

We have a friend whose elderly mother recently died whilst in a care home. Sad but to be expected because she was 94, she had been in there for 6 weeks. My friend was paying the bill of £97 a day himself because the social services were still in the middle of working it all out and had provisionally given him the figure of having to contribute £210 per week because they would be taking her pension, care allowance, heating allowance and so on into the figures. Anyway he paid the care home £2910 for the month but the old lady died two days later and they have refused to give him a refund. They said it was in the contract but my friend had never seen much less signed a contract. The trouble is these people know that with funeral arrangements to be made the whole family being upset etc. no one feels like being assertive with them. So if anyone else is faced with this pay weekly!

Paula_anne

Hi, I work with the elderly, i have not come across this situation before.
i'd ask the care home for a copy of this 'contract' if it exists,so your friend knows where he stands, i worked in a care home a while back and unfortunatley some bosses do get a bit greedy when it comes to the financial side of business, sorry i can't help further.

Ted_Hutchinson

Finding a Care Home I appreciate this is too late for this person but other readers may like to read this checklist of things to watch for when selecting an appropriate place.

I'd also suggest you look at the info at Help the Aged
In this particular case it may be worth using the Help the Aged Free advice:
SeniorLine
0808 800 6565
as they will probably have dealt with this situation before. If the person paying the bill wasn't given a copy of the contract before admittance then I think it is unfair. Perhaps it would be worth contacting
Commission for Social Care Inspection

EdInvestor

IIRC, the local authority pays for the first 12 weeks in a care home, so can you not claim the money back from them?

Biggles

IIRC, the local authority pays for the first 12 weeks in a care home, so can you not claim the money back from them?

They will 'disregard' the value of the person's unsold house for the first twelve weeks, but if you already have more than £21,000 in capital, you are self-funding from Day 1.