Fathers death and outstanding carers debt from council

BASILB

KxMx said:

You could sit down with her and use 1-2 of the benefits calculators , to see if there is anything else, or ask CAB/local welfare rights to go through things with her.

https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators

Thank you for that advice. I will go through it with her tomorrow

BASILB

elsien said:

BASILB said:

Thank you for all for your comments and information.

Just to answer a few of the points made,

The care package was not for any medical care.it was simply to get my dad up,washed etc and put to bed in the night. He had nurses that came out from his surgery to treat his wounds but that was not part of the care package. 

I m not sure it was just a routine letter as it was a phone call from the carers manager where my mum was told they expect the money. She has had nothing in writing.

My dad's bank account was a joint account with his wife. Would this confuse things? My mum contacted the bank straight away and the account is now solely in her name.the only money my dad had going in was his benefits which paid the bills.DWP were also contacted straight away and there would have been none of his money left over after bulls were paid as normal.

I believe my mum is claiming all she can but I would welcome any advice if there is anything she could be claiming that she s not. She already had pip. She is now claiming a bereavement fund which was a lump sum payment then £100 a month.the lump sum payment covered the funeral as the insurance my dad had was not enough. She has applied for universal credit and ESA through that as well but she s waiting on all that.At the moments she s only able to get by from borrowing from family.

I would expect any request for money to be put in writing with a breakdown, explaining what is owed, by whom and why.
in the meantime, as someone else said earlier, she could just write to them and say there was nothing left after the funeral, and his estate is insolvent. And ask for all future communications to be in writing. 

I think this is what we will have to do. I'll be going to see her tomorrow and give her all the advice I've been given and see what she wants to do. Thank you 

SevenOfNine

How old is your mum? Age UK can be very helpful, checking she's claiming all she can & advise on what to do about this bill. A few branches have a legal volunteer.

Driftingleaf

BASILB said:

Thank you for all for your comments and information.

Just to answer a few of the points made,

The care package was not for any medical care.it was simply to get my dad up,washed etc and put to bed in the night. He had nurses that came out from his surgery to treat his wounds but that was not part of the care package. 

I m not sure it was just a routine letter as it was a phone call from the carers manager where my mum was told they expect the money. She has had nothing in writing.

My dad's bank account was a joint account with his wife. Would this confuse things? My mum contacted the bank straight away and the account is now solely in her name.the only money my dad had going in was his benefits which paid the bills.DWP were also contacted straight away and there would have been none of his money left over after bulls were paid as normal.

I believe my mum is claiming all she can but I would welcome any advice if there is anything she could be claiming that she s not. She already had pip. She is now claiming a bereavement fund which was a lump sum payment then £100 a month.the lump sum payment covered the funeral as the insurance my dad had was not enough. She has applied for universal credit and ESA through that as well but she s waiting on all that.At the moments she s only able to get by from borrowing from family.

If the care and payment was in your dad's name only then your mum isn't liable for it I'd think. The package was only for him and his needs solely which means it should not included your mum named on the document, because she wasn't having any needs assessed. I'm confused though, if your mum has PIP, she isn't working, your dad had ESA and PIP why had your mum not been getting ESA too? Your mum clearly needed money and she's been missing out on years of pension contributions unless she was getting carer's allowance for your dad?

Teapot55

Really shocked that a care home would phone up a recently-bereaved older person to demand money. Was it really the care home on the phone btw?

MatyMoo

Teapot55 said:

Really shocked that a care home would phone up a recently-bereaved older person to demand money. Was it really the care home on the phone btw?

I work in collections and refused a job I was offered as that is exactly what they wanted me to do ☹️

In this instance I think it is the local authority & not a care home though 

BASILB

SevenOfNine said:

How old is your mum? Age UK can be very helpful, checking she's claiming all she can & advise on what to do about this bill. A few branches have a legal volunteer.

My mum is 58.my dad passed away at 60.my mum is disabled.i ve gone into all the paperwork they had and it looks like they ve counted my mums ESA as my dad's income.they claimed ESA jointly as they both received it and it worked out they would get more that way.However when working out what they could pay they ve listed the full amount as my dad's income when half would have been my mums. If that is the case they should have been paying £0 per week.

BASILB

Teapot55 said:

Really shocked that a care home would phone up a recently-bereaved older person to demand money. Was it really the care home on the phone btw?

It's the council who phoned.my dad was living at home but had carers for 11 hours per week to get him out and back into bed and for washing etc.he had his care through the council.

BASILB

MatyMoo said:

Teapot55 said:

Really shocked that a care home would phone up a recently-bereaved older person to demand money. Was it really the care home on the phone btw?

I work in collections and refused a job I was offered as that is exactly what they wanted me to do ☹️

In this instance I think it is the local authority & not a care home though 

Yes it was the local authority.i understand if money is owed but they could have left it a bit as there's enough to deal with.Also they must know it was solely in my fathers name and could have sent a letter rather than phoning.I don't blame you refusing that job.

Teapot55

It’s one thing to send a statements of account by post (to me about my late Auntie’s care) showing a large balance owing. It’s quite another to phone a widow unannounced. Phonecalls are what unscrupulous sales people and scammers use. Oh, and debt collectors. Bar stewards.