My previous carer is not paying back my money, any advice please?

Rer24

Last year, I naïvely lent £3000 to my carer at the time, as she was struggling a lot financially and as a single mother, I feel sorry for her and only wanted to help

So as I receive disability benefits, I didn't have the means to land, but my parents did so, after speaking to them and persuading them, they lent me the money to lend to her
But I need to get this money back to them now

At the time I was new to having carers, and as other ones from the firm had stolen some of my belongings, I opted to change agency shortly after
But since then, despite having contact with her, she is only paid back
but we had previously agreed. It was £100 per month, but there is always an excuse as to why can't be repaid, e.g. not well, unable to work, still waiting for payment, etc

So I just wanted others opinions on whether there is anything I can do about this
I know this is all my own fault, but as I would be classed as a very vulnerable person, I hope that this will help me in someway in recovering the money

I was thinking about contacting the council who hired the agency, but from what I've been told the company closed down due to taxq avoidance issues
I have hec full name, address, date of birth, phone number
But I'm not sure if this means anything

elsien

I’d be contacting the council anyway with regards to raising a safeguarding because she absolutely should not be borrowing money from clients under any circumstances.

With regards to returning the money, it’s going to be small claims court which if you win will still depend on whether she is able to pay and you may only get token amounts. 

But she really needs to be stopped from doing this again to other people.

Rer24

She has only paid back £700
and now I have to keep asking repeatedly for a payment before one might get sent

DullGreyGuy

What evidence do you have that you loaned her the money (rather than say gifted it to her)?

The reality is that you should lend anyone any money that you aren't happy not getting back. Even if you get a court order any repayment has to be affordable for her and given you already know she's in financial difficulties and presumably doesn't own her own home etc it may be you get little/nothing back and just increase your losses through court costs. 

Her employer nor the council signed the loan agreement as a guarantor for her, I am assuming, and so they wouldn't have a liability to whatever terms the two of you came up with. 

Brie

Unfortunately I think it unlikely that you will be able to recover this even if you take it to court.  And to do that you would need to be able to prove that the money had been given as a loan rather than as a gift.  So did you have a "loan agreement" of some sort?  Even with that given the poor wages carers get in general I doubt you'll achieve anything more than causing her financial distress - a CCJ or similar - but that you'll never see a £.  

I would think that any agency/firm providing carers to the community would have a code of practice of some sort that would state that staff shouldn't take advantage of their clients, not borrow money etc.  Your carer would have known how vulnerable you are and has disregarded this to her own advantage.  

I doubt the council will be concerned particularly if the agency is no longer operating.  And it sounds like the agency itself was pretty dodgy in any case so there's nothing to be had from them.  

Likely you'll have to chalk this one up as a lesson learned.  Talk to your parents and let them know you made a mistake.  If they definitely have to have the money back come to an agreement to pay it back in installments.

elsien

I disagree by saying the council won’t be concerned, because this person could still be working for another agency and doing the same thing to other people. That’s why I think it should be reported to them.

Flugelhorn

there are significant safeguarding concerns here - she could be "borrowing" money all over the place. 

DullGreyGuy

elsien said:

I disagree by saying the council won’t be concerned

The point wasn't on if the council will be concerned or not but if the council will be responsible in repaying the loan to the OP

[Deleted User]

As an aside -  it may be worth contacting the Care Quality Commission, just to have this complaint recorded/logged officially, they're there for a reason.

elsien

DullGreyGuy said:

elsien said:

I disagree by saying the council won’t be concerned

The point wasn't on if the council will be concerned or not but if the council will be responsible in repaying the loan to the OP

“I doubt the council will be concerned particularly if the agency is no longer operating.”

I am clearly reading it differently to you - there is nothing in that paragraph about whether the council will be responsible for paying or not.

And I am suggesting that they should be concerned with the protection of other people, regardless of whether the OP gets any money back.