Are Care Homes Allowed To Demand £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme Payment From Residents?

lynnpin

We have just received a letter from mum's care home demanding we apply for the £400 energy support grant which we then need to transfer to them.  They also enclosed an invoice for £400 which means that if we don't claim the grant on mum's behalf she will still have to pay the bill herself.

At best I think this is unfair but at worst is it even legal?  Anyone else getting these letters?

theoretica

What is your/your mum's contract with the care home and does it permit additional bills or increased rates?

That said - I don't see a downside to the expectation that money available to claim from the government to keep your mum warm should be claimed and used for that purpose.  To whom is it unfair?

HampshireH

Surely they cannot just send an invoice for £400?.

What does the contract say in terms of bills included in the weekly/monthly payment. Check this 

I don't know anything about this in these circumstances but it sounds very wrong that they can issue an invoice for the government support scheme funds. (Edit to add without proving the usage)

Spoonie_Turtle

If she's self-funding then she should certainly apply for it.
https://www.gov.uk/apply-energy-bill-support-if-not-automatic

Whether the care home should be able to charge it all is another matter, but it *is* specifically for energy, and who pays the energy bills of the care home?

JohnPo

The care home will be on a commercial tariff and their prices whoever pays the care home fees include the utilities.  The government grant is based on a domestic supply only and tied to that domestic property. 

The fact a person is not at their normal residence does not mean they have not incurred electricity/gas charges - a relative perhaps still lives (husband / carer etc) - keeping the place warm to stop it going damp!

So I cannot see any legal basis for such a letter and I think they are trying it on - outrageous!

macman

You wouldn't need to 'apply' for it anyway: it will already have been paid to the electricity account at your mum's house automatically, unless she is off-grid, which I doubt. Even if the property is unoccupied, standing charges will accrue and the EBSS credit should have been applied each month since October. 
Any credit on the account belongs to your mum, not to the care home.

lynnpin

Thanks everyone.  I appreciate all your views.  It seems about 50:50 on whether you think this is right or wrong.

I don't remember getting a contract as it was part funded by the local authority and part funded by mum's pension but we were assured that there would be no top-up fees, which is what I would call this.

Every April the charges go up so presumably the care home will factor the higher energy costs into the reviewed price so to my mind they will be charging twice?

JohnPo

lynnpin said:

Thanks everyone.  I appreciate all your views.  It seems about 50:50 on whether you think this is right or wrong.

I don't remember getting a contract as it was part funded by the local authority and part funded by mum's pension but we were assured that there would be no top-up fees, which is what I would call this.

Every April the charges go up so presumably the care home will factor the higher energy costs into the reviewed price so to my mind they will be charging twice?

Yep - the contract is almost certainly with the local authority if in any way they are funding this and taking deductions from your mother's retirement income. The local authority (LA) might be quite interested in you informing them that the care home are demanding a fee on a spurious basis over and above the contract they hold with the LA!

It is not a matter of whether it is right or wrong it is about the contractual position your mother is in - the LA presumably made the care arrangements - let them look and decide what to do with this payment demand.

t0rt0ise

Read here.. it is allowed. 

https://www.careengland.org.uk/energy-bill-support-scheme-for-local-authority-and-self-funded-residents/

JohnPo

t0rt0ise said:

Read here.. it is allowed. 

https://www.careengland.org.uk/energy-bill-support-scheme-for-local-authority-and-self-funded-residents/

Interesting and I was unaware that care homes were included in scope of the government support. I suppose the missing bit in all this is that the OP should have been informed about how to claim this grant back from the government https://www.gov.uk/apply-energy-bill-support-if-not-automatic 

I suppose the issue is that this not dissimilar to people who got two grants or more i.e. those with holiday homes. The OPs mother by being resident in a care home creates a new household for the purposes of the government grant I believe.

I guess for the care home it was just simpler to send an invoice and hope that OPs relatives just pay up and not get involved in explaining the detail.

MultiFuelBurner

I would challenge the invoice for proof of the increase as per the link as they are not allowed to profit.

It may be the case you just send their accounts department that link and ask them for full details.