Alzheimers & Council Tax

SandraScarlett

icklejulez wrote: »

Firstly I hope you are aware that your mother in law only has Alzheimer's not Alzheimer's and Dementia... Alzheimer's is a type of Dementia.


And, Dementia of any form is not an automatic diagnosis to allow the 25% reduction in council tax, that would need to be done as discussed above based on an assessment.


Finally as mentioned healthcare professionals are under no requirement to provide financial advice (we are not multi skilled, we deal in the healthcare requirements). If I felt that families I looked after needed advice, I may inform them of things such as the council tax requirement however I wouldn't be in a position to know who was entitled to it or not. It is not my business to pry into finances or to understand the complicated world of benefits. That is a career upon itself.

With regards to your first para, my husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and then, following his heart attack, we were informed by his Psychogeriatrician , that the frontal lobe of the brain had suffered severe trauma, and that he now also has Vascular Dementia.


This has also been reported in his medical notes, and is entirely separate from the generic term of "dementia". Alas, when you are on the side of the fence of caring 24/7 for a 75 year old toddler, it is very frustrating to be told by endless agencies "it's not my job to .......".


That may well be the case, but having to jump through hoops from numerous circuses can be very gruelling.


xx

cattermole

CIS wrote: »

If the only occupier is SMI for council tax purposes then the property is exempt under the Class U council tax exemption.



Not just space/extra rooms - 'adjustments' to allow a wheelchair to be used indoors also qualify if the wheelchair use is required.

Thanks for the additional information, I didn't explain it very well

I meant if there were more than two people in the house i.e. Mum, Dad and an adult disabled child. You are quite correct a single person who was SMI would be exempt.

cattermole

SandraScarlett wrote: »

With regards to your first para, my husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and then, following his heart attack, we were informed by his Psychogeriatrician , that the frontal lobe of the brain had suffered severe trauma, and that he now also has Vascular Dementia.


This has also been reported in his medical notes, and is entirely separate from the generic term of "dementia". Alas, when you are on the side of the fence of caring 24/7 for a 75 year old toddler, it is very frustrating to be told by endless agencies "it's not my job to .......".


That may well be the case, but having to jump through hoops from numerous circuses can be very gruelling.


xx

I know it is very gruelling. My Dad had a diagnosis of both as well Vascular dementia and Alzheimers.

I also don't want to give the impression in my post above that all professionals are perfect and many could be more helpful than they are and if they don't know something at least point someone in the right direction. But it does come back to how teams are organsied.

If you have a joint Health & Social Care Team working together they are much more able to cover everything. If an Health OT works with a Social Worker in the same office it amazing the difference in service. What I do know is specialist teams that were performing well like that have been disbanded in our area (on the grounds of sharing expertise!).

It an OT has to speak to 20 Social Workers in a day rather than one you can see it makes a massive difference on how things get dealt with!

tinkledom

Mojisola wrote: »

Happy to accept 6 weeks of help but not 3 weeks?

What made the first acceptable and the second "begging"?

Of course she would have taken the 6 weeks, she needed 6 weeks of help. They reduced it to 3 to save money which was of no use so we arranged a private company to come in for those 6 weeks.


If felt like that we had to accept the council's offer, they certainly made me feel as they were doing me a favour and I should be grateful for anything they offered.


I don't take charity.

SandraScarlett

cattermole wrote: »

Sandra I wouldn't personally use the term "qualify" when it comes to care provision it is not the same as a "benefit" it is not clear cut. Your husband has needs, those are assessed by a Social Worker and the Local Authority then agrees to meet those needs. They can be reviewed at any time and should be reviewed within a certain time span.

Really glad you both got your reductions back though and yes it does need more publicity I agree completely,

Perhaps I used the wrong word, but there was a new announcement on their website that they had received extra funding, I believe from the Other Sort of Lottery, which was being channelled into Dementia care. That's why I used the term "qualify", because prior to this injection of cash, he would have only received one visit a fortnight.


As you rightly say, my husband has needs, but as the LA do not have a bottomless pot, it was more advantageous for me to use his financial allocation to assist in him attending a Day Centre.


If I had used this for the bathing side of life, it would have been deducted from his allowance, and I would have had to fund even more Day Centre hours at £9 a time.


I get 6 hours of Crossroads Care per 4 weeks, @ £3.75 an hour, and then 6 free hours, so £22.50 for 12 hours of help, which I am more than happy to pay. If I had used the LA for these 12 hours, I would have paid an extra £108 for his Day Centre attendance.


I have been assessed, and it is felt I would benefit from attending a Peer Group with carers in a similar position. I know they mean well, but as I can't remember the last time I had an uninterrupted night, I prefer to spend this time having a sleep!


xx

SandraScarlett

cattermole wrote: »

I know it is very gruelling. My Dad had a diagnosis of both as well Vascular dementia and Alzheimers

I assumed, perhaps wrongly, that you and icklejulez were both health or social care professionals. I wonder why icklejulez is saying that the OP's relative hasn't got both Alzheimer's and Dementia?


I do agree that the fragmented role of so many agencies makes life so much more difficult. But I often feel that it is not due to lack of time, or money, but lack of common sense.


xx

CIS

I meant if there were more than two people in the house i.e. Mum, Dad and an adult disabled child. You are quite correct a single person who was SMI would be exempt.

There's a good chance that a 50% discount could apply if the child was over 18 - the child disregarded as SMI and the parents as carers.

cattermole

SandraScarlett wrote: »

Perhaps I used the wrong word, but there was a new announcement on their website that they had received extra funding, I believe from the Other Sort of Lottery, which was being channelled into Dementia care. That's why I used the term "qualify", because prior to this injection of cash, he would have only received one visit a fortnight.


As you rightly say, my husband has needs, but as the LA do not have a bottomless pot, it was more advantageous for me to use his financial allocation to assist in him attending a Day Centre.


If I had used this for the bathing side of life, it would have been deducted from his allowance, and I would have had to fund even more Day Centre hours at £9 a time.


I get 6 hours of Crossroads Care per 4 weeks, @ £3.75 an hour, and then 6 free hours, so £22.50 for 12 hours of help, which I am more than happy to pay. If I had used the LA for these 12 hours, I would have paid an extra £108 for his Day Centre attendance.


I have been assessed, and it is felt I would benefit from attending a Peer Group with carers in a similar position. I know they mean well, but as I can't remember the last time I had an uninterrupted night, I prefer to spend this time having a sleep!


xx

That I can understand re having a sleep! x

I was a carer for over 20 years and a Direct Payments Support worker for a while. My OH works in Social Services.

Has his DRE (Disability Related Expenditure) been taken into account when assessing charges? You can offset, gardening costs, window cleaning, taxi fares. Any medication that he needs that isn't covered by a prescription. I do think a lot of people's expenditure is not being taken into account.

Any other care being purchased privately i.e. Crossroads could possibly be offset as well against LA provided care from a charging point of view because it is a DRE.

cattermole

SandraScarlett wrote: »

I assumed, perhaps wrongly, that you and icklejulez were both health or social care professionals. I wonder why icklejulez is saying that the OP's relative hasn't got both Alzheimer's and Dementia?



I do agree that the fragmented role of so many agencies makes life so much more difficult. But I often feel that it is not due to lack of time, or money, but lack of common sense.


xx

See my post above re me. I don't know re icklejulez reply over both but I know my Dad had a diagnosis of both.

Yes common sense can be lacking very often do agree. Some workers can well let's say have blinkers on!

cattermole

CIS wrote: »

There's a good chance that a 50% discount could apply if the child was over 18 - the child disregarded as SMI and the parents as carers.

That's useful I didn't know that even if one of the parents was in full time work? What if only one of the two was the parent and the other was an unrelated partner?