Help! Overpayment of Attendance Allowance

pmlindyloo

Just a thought- perhaps someone will correct me if I'm mistaken.

From what the OP said the mother has been paying £1000 per month towards the care home fees - seems a lot unless she has a generous private pension. Also OP says that mother has very little left so it seems that the AA has been used to pay the fees.

If the OP's mother has been using the AA to pay for her care home fees then wouldn't the LA be liable?

The way I see it is if the OP's mother had not had the AA to go towards the fees then the LA should have been picking up the shortfall so in effect the mother has 'saved' the LA that money and now she is being asked for it back then the LA should be paying (as they should have been doing in the first place)

I hope you understand what I mean!

clemmatis

I think if the LA is paying part of the fees then AA is not payable. So, OP, sorry, I think there probably has been an overpayment here. But I suggest you ask AgeUK and the Alzheimers Association for information and advice.

sleepless_saver

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Just a thought- perhaps someone will correct me if I'm mistaken.

From what the OP said the mother has been paying £1000 per month towards the care home fees - seems a lot unless she has a generous private pension. Also OP says that mother has very little left so it seems that the AA has been used to pay the fees.

If the OP's mother has been using the AA to pay for her care home fees then wouldn't the LA be liable?

The way I see it is if the OP's mother had not had the AA to go towards the fees then the LA should have been picking up the shortfall so in effect the mother has 'saved' the LA that money and now she is being asked for it back then the LA should be paying (as they should have been doing in the first place)

I hope you understand what I mean!

Makes sense to me. As you say, the LA would simply have had to pay more if the AA had been stopped as it should have been. Whether in practice DWP would pursue a local authority is another matter.

Longships

Just to let you all know. I have spoken to DWP about this and they are going to take the overpayment back by £3.40 a week from her pension, which is fine. Apparently this is a standard thing they do for anyone who is in a care home and has been overpaid benefits.

clemmatis

Thanks for posting again, longships. I'm glad they're recovering the money that way.

(My mother's AA was paid while she was in a nursing home, but she had no LA funding.)

Torry_Quine

Longships wrote: »

Just to let you all know. I have spoken to DWP about this and they are going to take the overpayment back by £3.40 a week from her pension, which is fine. Apparently this is a standard thing they do for anyone who is in a care home and has been overpaid benefits.

Glad to hear that. It wasn't standard previously as I know someone who despite informing DWP had continued to be paid and then had to pay it back in a lump sum although thankfully it was only a few months worth.

clemmatis wrote: »

Thanks for posting again, longships. I'm glad they're recovering the money that way.

(My mother's AA was paid while she was in a nursing home, but she had no LA funding.)

If you're self-funding then you are still entitled to AA.

sleepless_saver

Torry_Quine wrote: »

If you're self-funding then you are still entitled to AA.

In Scotland you're not entitled if you're a self funder in receipt of free personal care, it's just down south that they retain entitlement.

Torry_Quine

sleepless_saver wrote: »

In Scotland you're not entitled if you're a self funder in receipt of free personal care, it's just down south that they retain entitlement.

That must have changed as the person I mention received AA when they went into a care home and were self-funding. It was about five years ago.

sleepless_saver

Torry_Quine wrote: »

That must have changed as the person I mention received AA when they went into a care home and were self-funding. It was about five years ago.

I think it's been the case since the introduction of free personal care back in ?2002. DWP then refused to transfer money to Scotland which would have been used for AA for this group because the UK government disapproved of the free personal care policy.

If someone doesn't receive the free personal care for whatever reason then they would keep the AA. e.g. if they had not been assessed by the local authority as needing residential care.
See:
http://www.firststopcareadvice.org.uk/finance/care-home/self-funding.aspx
http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/lessons-funding-long-term-care-scotland

Sorry for hijacking thread!

clemmatis

Torry_Quine wrote: »

If you're self-funding then you are still entitled to AA.

I know. I was contrasting my mother's situation -- no LA contribution -- with Longship's mother's. That's why I specifically said "but she had no LA funding".

I'd already advised Longship that in her mother's case, there probably had been an overpayment (see my previous post, above).