Child Care Home Travel Costs

davetheman007007

Hi, I daughter is in a care home and the government pay the care home fees, we pay for all her personal needs.

The care home is now wanting to charge towards transport costs, they do have a car and do take her out, not sure how often, she is able to walk but not that far, they have asked we start paying £35.36 a week towards the car, this we would have to pay ourselves, they are saying a Weekly Usage 3-5 days week which seems too often, we have not agreed anything, am thinking we should query this before we do, as suspect the amount will only increase each year.

Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated

teaselMay

Does your daughter receive PIP or DLA mobility component? Often the vehicle is a Motability vehicle paid for by that.

sheramber

davetheman007007 said:

Hi, I daughter is in a care home and the government pay the care home fees, we pay for all her personal needs.

The care home is now wanting to charge towards transport costs, they do have a car and do take her out, not sure how often, she is able to walk but not that far, they have asked we start paying £35.36 a week towards the car, this we would have to pay ourselves, they are saying a Weekly Usage 3-5 days week which seems too often, we have not agreed anything, am thinking we should query this before we do, as suspect the amount will only increase each year.

Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated

Have you asked for details of these outings? 

You cannot know if they are too  often if you don’t know what they entail, where they go etc.

Mands

davetheman007007 said:

Hi, I daughter is in a care home and the government pay the care home fees, we pay for all her personal needs.

The care home is now wanting to charge towards transport costs, they do have a car and do take her out, not sure how often, she is able to walk but not that far, they have asked we start paying £35.36 a week towards the car, this we would have to pay ourselves, they are saying a Weekly Usage 3-5 days week which seems too often, we have not agreed anything, am thinking we should query this before we do, as suspect the amount will only increase each year.

Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated

I am in an EU country where care home fees are around 25% of those in the UK. I pay a per-trip fee of 80 euro . 

3-5 weekly trips seems a lot so I would want to know where it is she is going. But £10 per trip seems incredibly cheap to me. 

elsien

Not enough information here to go on. 

Your daughter will have her £30 a week personal allowance from her benefits plus as above any mobility component of PIP or DLA. That does pay for clothes, et cetera but it’s what people in care homes who don’t have anyone to subsidise them have to manage on. So could she afford it out of her own money? 

- what activities is she going out in the car to do? If she’s a young and active person then no, 3-5 times a week is not necessarily too much to go out, depending on the location of the care home, your daughters mobility needs, and whether there is accessible public transport that she can use. Free bus pass, for example.

- how big is the care home and how many other people use the car? Does she share it with other people on each trip?

- how have they worked out that amount? Are they using the car because there’s few other options, or is it for  convenience? 

- asked to see the care homes written policy around the charges 
- how much would it cost her to get to her  preferred activities in other ways, such as public transport or Taxi?
-if this is not affordable, then how are they going to meet her leisure and activity needs in other ways instead, and what would the implications for her be if the care home didn’t provide the car? Would that then need the local authority to review the care package? 

I don’t know of any care home that charges a weekly usage rate like that. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen, just means that when I worked in care homes we used our car with business insurance  and residents  used to pay us mileage. Although there is no obligation to do that and it does depend on staff goodwill. 

Its not going to be a mobility car because that would have to be for your daughters specific use and not anyone else’s, and she would just be paying for the petrol. 

But surely you have an idea of what she does throughout the week? 

davetheman007007

Thanks, the care home has a total of 6 residents, we presume all parents have been asked to start contributing towards the care home car cost, just seems a lot if all 6 are paying the same.  I know they take her shopping and trips out, just not sure how often, I guess that needs to be the first thing to confirm.

They have sent us a different charging rate depending upon how many days, I asked what happened upto now and was told the care home covered the costs but can no longer do so.

At the moment we have not looking into her getting any kind of mobility payments

elsien

Looking at PIP mobility would be a good start - it is not taken into account in financial assessments and can be paid for people who are physically mobile but due to their health and disability can't plan journeys or travel independently and it's an extra £29 a week for the lower rate so would almost double what she has coming in. 
Have you asked them about public transport at all - some of that will obviously depend on where she lives and where she wants to go, but many areas do a concessionary pass where the carer goes free so she would only be paying for herself.
Not convinced by that how many days they  use it thing - doesn't seem to leave a lot of room for spontaneity. I think I would be asking for her activity log for the past couple of months (or whatever other records they keep) to get an idea of the overall picture. 

And also check how they have arrived at the overall sum and what exactly the residents are paying towards - petrol probably but what about insurance and servicing etc or have they already taken that into account.
I've had a quick scoot on CQC but there is no guidance around what care homes can/can't charge for transport. So it's about whether continuing to pay is affordable for her (because there is no obligation for you to pay out of your own money if you are not is a position to do so) and in her best interests and what would happen if the car went, because there is not that obligation for the care home to provide one.