Help with money severely disabled adult staying at home

dr78

Yes and he will defo get it as he can walk unaided but he has so many issues he couldn’t ever work. He can talk somewhat (only his mum understands him ) can’t go anywhere safely alone has to be accompanied at all times  and can’t be left alone at all

Spoonie_Turtle

marcia_ said:

dr78 said:

It says on google “ No, you cannot directly take money from your son's Personal Independence Payment (PIP) to help with  living costs. PIP is a benefit designed to help individuals with the extra costs of living with a disability or long-term health condition,”

 Ignore google AI. It pulls its answers from many sources many of which may not be legitimate or truthful. 

Just for specifics, it pulls from all sorts of sources - including the comments under ragebait 'news' articles, trolling comments anywhere, well-intentioned but completely wrong comments of people giving their opinion - there is NO sifting for accuracy.  It also sometimes links 'sources' for its answers that don't say what it claims it says, and some links cited don't even exist.

Honestly, people really shouldn't use AI overview or any other generative AI to find answers to questions.  ESPECIALLY not for things like benefits where things change, and often the complexities require a human's understanding.  They are language models designed to sound good, not for actually returning accurate results.

elsien

dr78 said:

He has a dols ? Done by social worker which shows he has no mental capacity. She is worried she can’t say do 50/50 bills as that prob will take a lot of his money. It’s the knowing what’s classed as fair as she is worried about a spot check and it being classed as a unfair amount so she wants to get it right and is panicked she can’t take any yet still fully cares for him 

DoLS means he lacks capacity around his care and support needs as a whole. He may have some capacity for other smaller decisions within that. Each decision needs to look at individually.

Having said that I think she’s probably worrying unduly. DoLS is nothing to do with finances. No one is gonna be checking her bank account or his on a regular basis. How many other people are in the household, adults and children?

And yes, his PIP can be used towards household expenses, for example if the washing machine is on more because he has extra continence needs, or whatever it is. or some of his mobility money goes towards petrol for the car. it’s a balance between paying towards the household and it not restricting his activities. Unless his activities are ridiculously expensive because we all have to budget, and he is living on benefits, which are not noted for their generosity. 

If he was living in supported living, he would have to pay his own bills. This is no different.

I have recently worked with a case where we had exactly this discussion with the social worker, and there was no issue with using some of the PIP as long as it was proportionate. 

dr78

He is leaving “further education” and going into a “work based (working around animals ) at a centre for disabled people. Doing arts and crafts and things like that. So it’s still education but not classed as further education  it’s basically a day care for adults with needs 

dr78

Spoonie_Turtle said:

marcia_ said:

dr78 said:

It says on google “ No, you cannot directly take money from your son's Personal Independence Payment (PIP) to help with  living costs. PIP is a benefit designed to help individuals with the extra costs of living with a disability or long-term health condition,”

 Ignore google AI. It pulls its answers from many sources many of which may not be legitimate or truthful. 

Just for specifics, it pulls from all sorts of sources - including the comments under ragebait 'news' articles, trolling comments anywhere, well-intentioned but completely wrong comments of people giving their opinion - there is NO sifting for accuracy.  It also sometimes links 'sources' for its answers that don't say what it claims it says, and some links cited don't even exist.

Honestly, people really shouldn't use AI overview or any other generative AI to find answers to questions.  ESPECIALLY not for things like benefits where things change, and often the complexities require a human's understanding.  They are language models designed to sound good, not for actually returning accurate results.

Very true as my ten year old had a cut on finger last week and was silly and ai searched it as it was hurting him and it told him he needed to go a and e and he panicked that he needed the hospital lol

dr78

elsien said:

dr78 said:

He has a dols ? Done by social worker which shows he has no mental capacity. She is worried she can’t say do 50/50 bills as that prob will take a lot of his money. It’s the knowing what’s classed as fair as she is worried about a spot check and it being classed as a unfair amount so she wants to get it right and is panicked she can’t take any yet still fully cares for him 

DoLS means he lacks capacity around his care and support needs as a whole. He may have some capacity for other smaller decisions within that. Each decision needs to look at individually.

Having said that I think she’s probably worrying unduly. DoLS is nothing to do with finances. How many other people are in the household, adults and children?

And yes, his PIP can be used towards household expenses, for example if the washing machine is on more because he has extra continence needs, or whatever it is. or some of his mobility money goes towards petrol for the car. it’s a balance between paying towards the household and it not restricting his activities. Unless his activities are ridiculously expensive because we all have to budget, and he is living on benefits, which are not noted for their generosity. 

If he was living in supported living, he would have to pay his own bills. This is no different.

I have recently worked with a case where we had exactly this discussion with the social worker, and there was no issue with using some of the PIP as long as it was proportionate. 

There is just himself and my friend so two adults 

elsien

So if he moved out, what would she still be paying for herself? 

And maybe if he is exempt from council tax he shouldn’t contribute towards that but if she’s got higher costs for the electric, It would be fair for him to pay a decent amount to towards that bill.
There isn’t a right  or wrong answer to this, It does vary between households, but people will only get concerned if he clearly doesn’t have enough money for clothes or activities or any contribution towards the day centre that he needs to make. 

Any decisions that she makes now are not set in stone. If she does a budget and it doesn’t work for whatever reason, then she reviews it. 

But like I say, if he was living more independently, he would be paying  his own bills so living at home and paying towards the bills shouldn’t be any different in that respect. 

No-one is going to come swooping in and remove all control of his money from her just like that. It really doesn’t work like that. 

dr78

I defo think she is over thinking but I suppose as it’s new to her she is just panicking. 

elsien

And maybe there’s other things that she has been paying for for him that would now come out of his own money -Clothes, mobile phone, cinema tickets, drink at the pub, et cetera? Some of her expenses may be less than before, which also helps  to balance out the gap. 

It’s a shift in thinking from “this is household money to meet all his needs” to “ he is now legally an adult so it is his money, but it’s reasonable for him to pay towards household costs, and the other stuff that’s just for him comes out of his money and not the household pot.”

Savvy_Sue

Has your friend ever had a Carer's Assessment herself? It sounds as if that could be helpful. 

And now may not be the time, but ...

Has she given any thought to the longer term, and what would happen to him if anything happened to her?