Council taking all my DLA in care costs leaving me with nothing.

Joan.Batt

Please forgive me for the lenght of this post: I am at my wits end.

I had a financial assesment done by my local council in relation to my home care costs. I expected to pay something but did not expect then to take ALL of my Care Componant in my DLA leaving me with very little for other care items such as the diet I follow. The council would not accept anything as a Disability Related Expense unless I could produce a receipt. As I had been given 2 weeks notice of the assesment I had very few receipts.

They told me that they would not accept receipts for 'Carers day outings' or 'Carer assisted holiday' as these were 'lifestyle choices'. I have a life limiting disease and so will never work again, I am housebound and look forward to outing, even if it is just for a cup of coffee. I suffer severe depression and these outings are not only good for my mental health but my physical health as well they have a knock on effect with each other.

They will allow me £25 per week in food as they claim that this is what the government allows to a single person living alone. I have to follow a very low fat diet (evidenced by letters) which means I eat a lot of fruit and veg and only chicken and fish. Fruit & veg these days is not cheap, I each at least 4 apples a day along with other fruit. £25 will pay only 3/4 of my food bill each week, I then have milk, all the normal day to day expenses. In short if I am to pay the council then I cannot afford to eat.

As eating is the priority I had to cancel my care until I could sort something out with the council. I have struggled for weeks now, I fell and broke my nose which now requires surgery.

I saved receipts for the council and had a visit from the financila assesor yesterday, it was degrading and humiliating.

I said that I needed a landline for my lifeline pendant and I was told 'it is assumed that everyone has a landline these days'. He was not open to arguements.

I am doubly incontinant and have to buy more bedding, clothes etc for obvious reasons. He would not accept this stating that the NHS provide me with pads and anything above that is my own expense.

Having to talk to a younger person and especially a yound man about intimate topics caused me deep distress.

At one point he argued with me other 'cheese spread'. I claimed this as a low fat item for my diet, he stated that if I ate cheese then I cannot be following a low fat diet. I was so upset, I went to the fridge and pulled out a Morrisons own 80% reduced fat cheese spread and gave it to him. He did the same with cottage cheese.

I gave him a letter from my Consultant stating I need a low fat diet in order to stay healthy. Yet he said ''that it would be hard pushed to claim these as a Disability Related Expense''.

I started to cry at one point and told him he ignored my distress and continued.

He said I was allowed £25 for food despite having receipts for fruit & veg that exceeded that and how was I to afford all the other household items that one included in day to day shopping.

He questioned why I but baby wipes, obviously to stay clean. He questioned everything and by the time he had finished I was so upset I could say nothing.

In relation to Disability Related Expensees:

Is it right that I can only claim £25 for food even though I need to follow a special diet?

Can I not claim for a telephone line?

Can I not claim for outings or a carer assisted holiday?

I have recipts for the things I need, ie batteries for an implant I have were the handset uses AA batteries, the NHS used to supply them, I now have to pay for them.

I need extra toilet roll, wash powder, etc.

I have £8 deducted from my benefits by The Child Support Agency, the council say that they cannot exclude that from their assement unless I go back to court and get the Judge to say that my child cannot live with me due to my disability. It is obvious I cannot care for a young child.

The fact is that i have to pay this if I do not it is a criminal offence, so to pay the council for care I am potentially facing criminal charges if i cannot pay the csa as well?

I use the internet a lot not only do i live in a rural area, I am isolated and use it not only to shop but to keep in touch with family and friends which is impoirtanmt for my menatl and physical health.

The council will not allow the internet as a disability related expense. Is that true?

My son read the guidelines for the new financial assesments for care and wrote to the council some weeks ago quoting these guidelines, the council say that they are just that 'guidelines' and they do not have to adhere to them.

I would appreciate any help at all.

GwylimT

My wife has a severe disability and all of her care component of her DLA is used by the council to provide care.

Batteries, not a cost associated with disability, especially when you could just buy a rechargable set.

Incontinence, your LA will provide so many, after that you buy your own. In some circumstances you can receive assistance washing clothes and bedding, to do this you have to show you are using adequate incontinence pads etc.

We were able claim for the cost of installing a telephone line for our help link, but not the monthly line rental.

Holidays etc are luxuries.

Where is your mobility component going at the moment?

I must say as a diabetic on a low fat and low carb diet, who also cannot eat nuts, dairy and gluten that I eat very well on around £20 a week. So I do think with some help you could easily eat well for £25.

Joan.Batt

Motability goes on a car through Motability. I can no longer drive and so rely on nominated drivers. i live over 30 miles away from my local hospital and have no local amenities.

I cannot seem to eat well on £25, I wonder what do you do for that? I would appreciate some advice.

GwylimT

I'll do an example meal plan that we would eat, well its this weeks menu actually, we work on a two weekly basis, then i'll price it up on the supermarkets that deliver. Might take half an hour or so.

Joan.Batt

Thank you very much.

Ames

Have you had a benefits check to make sure you're getting everything else you're entitled to?

I know how you feel, I have physical and mental health problems and when I tried to get help nothing related to my mental health was accepted as disability related expense - even going to groups organised by social services!

GlasweJen

Have you called any local care companies to ask how much they would charge for what you need?

GwylimT

Now, I will be changing our recipes as we wont need to avoid dairy etc. I will write our meals, then ingredients then cost.

Breakfasts
Porrdige. Now, this can be a little boring, but you can add things to it such as fruit, nuts, jam, even coffee granules (sounds weird, tastes nice). A huge advantage is that it is easy to cook on the stove or microwave.

Lunch
These will be a range of cold and hot lunches.
Cream cheese and salmon pasta
Salmon and salad sandwiches/wraps
Omlette and any left overs that are suitable, or scrambled egg on toast
Chicken and tomato sandwiches
Soup x3 tinned is fine as you can get reasonably priced ones now that aren't salt and sugar fest. They're also good for days when you're tired, and best used on days where dinner is a bit more effort

Dinner
Pasta bolognese with mince
Chicken and veg bake
Mince in gravy with veg
Salmon and veg bake
Pasta bolognese with veg
Sardines in tomato sauce on toast with egg/salad on the side
Jacket potato with cottage cheese

Now, if you have a freezer where you can buy frozen if its cheaper, so chicken, salmon, veg etc. It also means nothing will go off and it will be easier to prepare as you don't have to chop as much veg etc.

GlasweJen

To be fair DLA is supposed to cover care and mobility costs, day to day items such as food and utilities should be covered by either wages or earning replacement benefits like JSA/ESA. Are you getting everything you're entitled to?

GwylimT

Now, the shopping list.

Apples x 15 at least £3.18
Bananas x 5 99p
Baking potatoes x 4 70p
Whole slices loaf 36p
Tinned sardines x2 68p
Wholewheat pasta 500g 61p
Chicken soup 24p
Tinned tomatoes 31p
Gravy granules 20p
Bolognese sauce 28p
Tomato soup 24p
Veg soup 24p
General potatoes 1kg £1
Mixed salad 90p ( cheaper to buy a whole lettuce but depends on what you like)
Brocolli whole head 38p, frozen 1kg £1.20 so frozen is cheaper in the long run
Carrots 500g 43p
Tomatoes 450g 91p
Six free range eggs 85p
Parsnips 500g 73p
French beans 57p (optional but nice with gravy)
Cottage cheese 300g 64p
Soft cheese 200g 52p
Salmon fillets x4 £3 (frozen)
Chicken fillets 1kg £3.83 (frozen)
Peas 500g 78p
Meat free mince 400g £1.57 or 300g fresh turkey mince £3
Porridge 1kg 75p

The total is £24.74, this is morrisons, tesco was 27p cheaper, sainsburys was £1.23 more.

Now, somethings will last more than a week on the menu I posted, those are bread, jacket tates, peas and the mince probably the porridge as well and of course gravy, I haven't posted anything that doesn't have a low fat content. If you get someone to take you out, or get someone to go out in the mobility car you could make it cheaper as I found a lot of value ranges aren't available online, plus any local lidl or aldi could be taken advantage of.

pmlindyloo

This is a very useful fact sheet and includes facts about the financial assessment:

http://www.ageuk.org.uk/Documents/EN-GB/Factsheets/FS46_Paying_for_care_and_support_at_home_fcs.pdf?dtrk=true

If you have any questions about your financial assessment then you could try contacting AgeUK and or CAB.