not sure wot to do next...

Tran

MarkyMarkD,

Your opinion on Social Services might be better put on the Discussions board.

Tran,

Have you got any help from Epilepsy Website? You might also find the ME association Website useful, and the Support Me Website for sufferers of ME / CFS looks informative and it has a chat page.

I think you should both be asking for seperate assessments as you have seperate conditions with different requirements.

Thanks for the info Fran.

MarkyMarkD

I wasn't trying to take this OT - and I appreciate the partial agreement and in turn agree with the views expressed above.

I meant that there's nothing wrong with SS encouraging the consideration of family-based support, before going on to offer SS support. I wasn't suggesting that SS should say "on your bike, you've got a relative who lives only 50 miles away - they can come and put you to bed every day".

SS need to be considerate to people's circumstances and not over-pressurising regarding family support, but I agree that care from family is better for the caree than SS-funded care from a stranger.

msraec

Went all the way to appeal at tribunal (with CAB representation) - i was awarded higher rate care component and higher rate mobility component for 2 years - great (and fair) result and shows its worth fighting on (or getting someone to do it for you when you're too disheartened/exhausted) this will now be backdated to my original claim date in august 04...ooh and im a tax payer too, not that it makes any difference but just to stop any digs about any of you tax payers subsidising my living - thought i'd stop it right here! DLA is not a means tested benefit so it gets awarded and is non taxable whatever income you do or dont have, on benefits, millionaire - its all the same! keep on keeping on guys - that £100 a week means you can do some of the things your disability stops you doing that i for one used to take for granted (this being a relatively new disability)

BaritoneUK

I can't believe there is a thread for this on moneysavingexpert! It seems it has answers for everything. Thanks for this thread as I now feel I am not the only one out there...

msraec

the basis of these kinds of posts is to ensure people are maximising their income - that certainly comes under money saving when you're not having to use you own money or borrow when there are financial entitlements out there we can get whether it be welfare benefits or working tax credits - the encouragement, success stories and support are all added bonuses - good innit?!!

tran_2

Just need to bump this thread up to ask for a little more advice as i know there are social workers and receipiants of direct payments/social service care out there.

We applied for an assessment and a very nice social worker came round to assess my partner (ME, depression and other mental health problems) and they also carried out a carer's assessement on me (serious mental health problems, depression, epilepsy, SPD and mild back injury). The social worker appeared to understand out situation and we also told her about the help we get from a good friend currently. However because of her own health problems she is going to have to stop helping us and that is why we are applying to social services for help.

The assessment seemed quite positive as the social worker appeared to understand that i do the caring for my partner but my health is suffering due to caring and i have pre-existing health problems anyway. She also understood how our friend comes 3 times a week to help with household jobs (cleaning, bed making, washing, ironing, goes shopping) because i find it difficult and painful due to my back/SPD and also because i am busy caring for my partner, so she does the household jobs while i do the caring.

We get some childcare paid by social services long standing (2 half days a week) already but this is specifically so i can attend hospital appointments for my own health (i do not use this time with the kids away to have a rest/break).

I have sat down and worked out that i reckon i do about 30 hours a week at least purely caring for my partner (and i don't mean caring for the family - i am talking specifically looking after his needs) and our friend spends about 10-12 hours a week doing household jobs for us.

At the end of the assessment the social worker said she was sure we'd get some help and she'd get back to us. When she got back to us she has offered us 2 hours of domestic help per week in the form of a direct payment for about £16.

I really don;t wish to sound ungrateful but the 2 hours we have been offered feels woefully inadequate but i have no measure to know whether we have been offered a 'fair' amount of help. Since our friend will no longer help us, we're going down from 10-12hours help to 2 hours. I don't expect SS to fund 10-12 hours a week but i did expect at least 7 hours a week. Also the 2 hours help is being offered to me (the carer) and no help or support is offered to my partner. During the interview i was asked if i was happy to continue caring for him, i said he was my partner so of course i would care for him but it is hard and taking it's toll on my health. Did i shoot myself in the foot by saying i was carry on caring for him? (but don't couples care for one another??) Also, how on earth am i going to employ a person for 2 hours a week (at around £15 before tax/NI etc), i can;t think anyone would want the work. I don't wish to sound ungrateful but it appears to be more hassle than it is worth for only 2 hours a week. I feel like rejecting the help because it really is inadequate and more hassle than it is worth. I thought about asking a relative who may be willing to do these couple of hours a week (by relative i mean i asked about a brother in law or a cousin who lives in the same town -but not with us) but i was told by SS no relatives can be employed.

I just wondered what other, with perhaps some experience of this would think. Have i been offered a fair amount of help? is it odd that the carer has got help but nothing for the disabled person?

how do you employ someone for only 2 hours a week on £7.70 and hour? Can i really not employ a distant relative?

thanks guys

msraec

HI TRAN - GOOD FOR YOU FOR GETTING THE ASSESSMENT! - i remember you were apprehensve about it. Although your social worker should tell you about direct payments its only an option. It is VERY hard to get cleaning from SS. I was VERY lucky to get 45 minutes a week for the bathroom and kitchen. I must say i wouldnt want to bother to become an employer for 2 hours a week although some disability services will help you set this up. It may be that your social services doesnt have the facility/staff to provide it as i understand its being phased out but you could ask if the two hours could be supplied by them? He/She's right in saying you cant employ a relative or anyone who lives in the same house as you.

The idea of the SS assessment is that you and the social worker agree together whats appropriate and whats not. Have they not offered to provide care to give you a break? my partner was prepared to provide care for me but the social worker made it clear that they were there to help BOTH of us - me in my care needs and my partner in giving her a break (maybe your social worker is being a bit lazy?) It is probably worth asking your social worker to come back to clarify a few things and tell them you're exhausted providing so much care esp when you're sick yourself.

keep trying, good luck x

tran_2

msraec wrote:

HI TRAN - GOOD FOR YOU FOR GETTING THE ASSESSMENT! - i remember you were apprehensve about it. Although your social worker should tell you about direct payments its only an option. It is VERY hard to get cleaning from SS. I was VERY lucky to get 45 minutes a week for the bathroom and kitchen. I must say i wouldnt want to bother to become an employer for 2 hours a week although some disability services will help you set this up. It may be that your social services doesnt have the facility/staff to provide it as i understand its being phased out but you could ask if the two hours could be supplied by them? He/She's right in saying you cant employ a relative or anyone who lives in the same house as you.

The idea of the SS assessment is that you and the social worker agree together whats appropriate and whats not. Have they not offered to provide care to give you a break? my partner was prepared to provide care for me but the social worker made it clear that they were there to help BOTH of us - me in my care needs and my partner in giving her a break (maybe your social worker is being a bit lazy?) It is probably worth asking your social worker to come back to clarify a few things and tell them you're exhausted providing so much care esp when you're sick yourself.

keep trying, good luck x

Hi there,

The social worker said she would not specify what i have to use the 2 hours for and would just call it ''domestic support'' so i could use if for cleaning/washing/ironing/shopping. My problem is that it is only 2 hours and is not enough support in my opinion but i have no idea if i am unreasonable in expecting more help or whether i am getting fobbed off a bit with being given a very small amount of help.

Also who is classed as a relative? is it just close relative or ALL relatives? (i am thinking about a brother in law or a cousin - are these close relatives?).

My council appear to be heavily pushing direct payments and really want people to take the direct payments.

I was not offered any kind of break or respite. I was just asked what would happen if i got ill. I just said that both of us would then need assistance and i had no one to care for my kids (so the social worker said the kids might potentially have to go into foster care so we need to support you so that this situation doesn't occur.)

I posted my situation mainly just to see if others thought that 2 hours of help was reasonable or maybe see what level of help other people get If they mind saying)?

msraec

hi tran - like i said i get 45mins a week and thats after a fight on my behalf by a v good social worker - most of my colleagues at the CAB were very surprised i got any domestic help at all and they deal with this sort of thing all day long so it gives you an idea of how few people do get anything at all. it probably is unfair and certainly not enough for you by the sounds of it but i think probably in the current climate and with the resources available to SS its not low by their standards. in some areas i would hazard a guess a family in your situation would get nothing at all in terms of domestic help - so unfair but reasonable perhaps? social justice doesnt happen overnight (if only!). you raised an interesting question about what constitutes family - im sure i read on mine that it couldnt be anyone who lived in the same house or who was related to you - an in-law isnt really related to you or are they?? - there's certainly no blood tie - i want to know the answer to that too! hopefully someone else will know for sure- otherwise give the SS a ring and ask - you dont have to give your name just do a bit of mystery shopping! my partner is entitled to carers allowance having just lost her job without notice - even if its only for a few weeks she is entitled to it before she finds work - course they've managed to turn her down twice in a week as im not on DLA (ummm except that high rate care high rate mobility they awarded me for two years!!) dont assume what they say - or even write is right!

keep us posted

purple12

Hi
Just wanted to give a quick response to some of the questions here. I'm a social worker working in an Adult Assessment Team but don't want to make any claims to be speaking for Social Services! Not least because the situation is quite different in different local authorities.
The paucity of support offered (2 hours) may be due to the enormous constraints on domestic support. We, for example, can only allocate 1 hour fortnightly for housework and one hour weekly for shopping etc. So even though a friend may help out three days a week it doesn't always collate with hours offered - and I know some councils that don't offer any support with domestic tasks.
If you live with someone, you cannot be paid by direct payments - so the hours that you do would not count. You can ask for a break and that should be offered that. Have you had any contact with with Princess Royal Trust for Carers (https://www.carers.org). My council have very close links with them and provide them with a grant specifically for carers services and I think this is quite a regular pattern.

As for the definition of family as far as Direct Payments are concerned, it is pretty flexible beyond the immediate household but as far as I understand it, it is parent/child/spouse. Certainly an in-law and possibly a brother/sister could receive a direct payment.

Tran, if you believe your partner needs more assistance (aside from what you are providing) you should speak to your social worker and explain why, but they won't be able to take into account what you, in the household, do.

Also, as msraec stated, you can accept a directly provided service rather than the direct payment if you feel it would not be feasible to employ someone for a couple of hours.

I certainly would suggest calling your social worker if you don't understand anything about the process. Usually we enter the profession because we want to help and to listen, sometimes certainly where I work, we end up running from one place to another and may not realise that we aren't being clear but I don't think it's laziness (or at least, I hope it's not!).

I hope that's of some help anyway! Good luck.