Third Party Top Up Fee - what if you can't pay?

lilyboo2

pmlindyloo wrote: »

I should be very much inclined to get your local MP involved in this.

You have several points that need to be raised with him/her.

1. Your mother was moved to an unsuitable home ( dementia unit) without an assessment.

2. You were informed by Social Services that the fees would be met by them.

3. From your comments it seems as if the very first home was not providing reasonable care for your mother and you may have a complaint against them.

4. It could be argued that your sister signed a contract ' under stress'.

Despite what is believed Social Services have considerable negotiating power with care homes as regards fees and they should have approached the home and negotiated the fees.

Moving your mother at this time would be extremely detrimental and this point must be stressed.

If your MP cannot help in this situation then you may need to find a charity to assist you. Has your mum or any member of her family a connection with the armed forces? Did she work in a profession that has a benevolent fund?

Do some googling to see if there is a charity that will help but.......do visit your MP. I had to write to all and sundry before I got help for my mum. You need to be very determined. Good luck!

Thanks for your reply. Your response is the road we've taken; we've yet to get our MP involved, but we will now.

Bollotom

Send your MP, MEP and local councillors an email. The link below. You have to confirm it via your email address but then they have to reply within a certain period of time. We did it for an uncle and local councillors visited him within a week and the MP got involved, although our complaint was one of lack of proper care. Hope you get a good result.

http://www.writetothem.com/

Mojisola

lilyboo2 wrote: »

My mother worked hard all her life, but apart from savings has little assets. She currently pays towards her care and is paying more for this home than the previous home, but we cannot meet the top up fee, hich would be an extra £150+ per week on top.

I'm confused by this.

I'm going through all this with my Dad at the moment. He was self-funding for a time and he paid the full amount of the home.

It was only when the LA started to pay for his care that someone else paying the top-up fee came into play.

lilyboo2

Mojisola wrote: »

I'm confused by this.

I'm going through all this with my Dad at the moment. He was self-funding for a time and he paid the full amount of the home.

It was only when the LA started to pay for his care that someone else paying the top-up fee came into play.

At the moment the LA pays a contribution of x amount but my also mother pays a monthly bill. The top up fee is in addition to this.

Katykat

Lillyboo, you say your mother was moved to a dementia unit without the knowledge of SS. Does your mother have dementia? Regardless of the quality of care which you say was lacking in the original home, there is a point to be made here. If your mother has dementia, she should not be paying anything for her care, and neither should you be paying any top up fees. The NHS should be paying through the Continuing health care scheme. Dementia is an illness, not a social care problem and as such is the responsibility of the NHS. There is a very good thread on the over 50's forum on MSE which gives some very good links. Its complicated, but why should she pay when she's ill.

Mojisola

lilyboo2 wrote: »

At the moment the LA pays a contribution of x amount but my also mother pays a monthly bill. The top up fee is in addition to this.

I don't understand this at all. I was told that once the LA paid towards his fees, Dad wasn't allowed to pay any of the rest - it had to be paid by a third party.

lilyboo2

Katykat wrote: »

Lillyboo, you say your mother was moved to a dementia unit without the knowledge of SS. Does your mother have dementia? Regardless of the quality of care which you say was lacking in the original home, there is a point to be made here. If your mother has dementia, she should not be paying anything for her care, and neither should you be paying any top up fees. The NHS should be paying through the Continuing health care scheme. Dementia is an illness, not a social care problem and as such is the responsibility of the NHS. There is a very good thread on the over 50's forum on MSE which gives some very good links. Its complicated, but why should she pay when she's ill.

My mother doesn't have dementia. She was literally turned out of the previous home late one evening because we complained several times about the level of care my mother was getting. She managed to get out of the home and was found wandering on the street.Realising that this was extremly serious they called my sister one evening and said they could not contain my mother any longer (my mother is quite passive and walks with a frame) they packed up her things and arranged for her to go to there dementia unit. My mother did not have a diagnosis for dementia and SS was not informed of the move. We have been reported the home to Quality Care and have written several letters of complaint to SS about our mother's treatment, but it has yet to be properly investigated. At teh dimentia Unit, they agreed my mother shouldn't be there. We informed SS,then set about find another home. SS did not assist us. When we found this home a Sworker told us that the fees would be covered, we now find that's not the case.
Thanks

lilyboo2

Mojisola wrote: »

I don't understand this at all. I was told that once the LA paid towards his fees, Dad wasn't allowed to pay any of the rest - it had to be paid by a third party.

Well in our case, my mother pays a monthly bill towards her fees, the LA contributes the rest and a top up fee is required from a third party i.e my sister.

Mojisola

lilyboo2 wrote: »

Well in our case, my mother pays a monthly bill towards her fees, the LA contributes the rest and a top up fee is required from a third party i.e my sister.

I think you need to get someone else involved in this because what you're being told doesn't sound right.

The whole saga is dreadful. Your mother shouldn't have had to go through all this and your family should be getting support, not endless hassle.

pmlindyloo

Mojisola wrote: »

I think you need to get someone else involved in this because what you're being told doesn't sound right.

The whole saga is dreadful. Your mother shouldn't have had to go through all this and your family should be getting support, not endless hassle.

Sounds right to me as regards the finances.


Even though the OP's mother is not self funding her pensions will be taken towards the fees leaving her with a personal allowance of about £20 a week. Usually the LA's contribution and the resident's contribution is sufficient to meet the care home fees. In this case there is a shortfall and they are asking for a third party top up from the family. This top up cannot be paid by the resident.


When my mother first went into a care home we had to pay a top up. Fortunately we got some help from a forces charity. When the charity
Stopped contributing after a few years we were asked to make up the difference. We could not afford to do so. The local authority came up with the money. This was about ten years ago. There has been quite a lot of arguments about top up fees and as I said before local authorities have considerable negotiating powers.


In the OP's circumstances I agree that she should get some support about everything that has happened either from Her MP and/ or Age Concern. It certainly sounds as there has been a failure of care by Social Services.