Care home/council clawing back money?

runboy

I need some help regarding my mother and grandmother.

My grandmother went into a nursing home 14 months ago. To pay for this her pension is paid into her bank account and the majority of it then goes to the local council, my mother who is also a pensioner pays a top-up to the council, then the council make their contribution and pays all three amounts to the care home (presumably as one amount).

Today my mother who has been pushing the council to let her know what the new amount that she has to pay on top (which works out at double her pension increase!) was also told that for the first 12 months my grandmother was in the home they were underpaying the home. Now neither the council nor nursing home realised until now and the council told my mother they would be writing to her in 2 weeks to let her know how much extra she would have to pay to cover their mistake. I presume the council will pay the nursing home the missing amount and then want this money back from my mother/grandmother.

Now my grandmother has enough “pocket money” to pay for physio, toiletries etc each month, and my mother being a pensioner anyway not only has to find the general increase but the “missing money”.

I want to know if the council can claim the money back from my grandmother when it was their fault. Even the home did not realise. Maybe one or two months you could aford to pay back, but 12 months of underpayment? We did not know the council were underpaying the home so how can it be our fault?

What can we do?

TheWaltons_3

Hi Runboy

I am sorry to hear that you are in this situation, however, what these agencies can and can't do wouldn't surprise me one bit.


If I were you, I would get in touch with your local CAB and see if they can help you. This isn't fair on your Mother.

Errata

What a mess. You may get good advice from CAB but also try your local Age Concern.
As it's the council's error, the council may be willing to let your mum pay off the underpayment weekly. I'd suggest she offers them £1pw as a starting point. Your Gran should have a social worker and it would be well worth your mum asking for their help in sorting things out with the council, in particular they can check that the figures the council and the home have come up with are absolutely correct. Your mum's local councillor should also be able to give help and support.
Hope this helps, if all else fails your mum should contact her MP for help. It's worth exploring all avenues of help/advice etc before handing over any of the money that's owed.