Perseverance – Part 2

Perseverance is key. My boyfriend and I spent months drafting correspondence back and forth with the Council and the key stakeholders. It was almost like taking on a second job. After logging off from the day job we would spend evenings carefully drafting the next instalment in the saga.

Clive was constantly reading statue, case law and regulations. I believe the Council rely on families giving in to their convoluted policy and process, however it was apparent when they recognised they were dealing with someone not willing to give in so easily. Their returned correspondence style notably changed in that it was likely being reviewed by their internal legal department.

The Council have block beds that they reserve in care homes. The fees for the care home they wished to move my Mum to are £1,400 a week (in excess of what my Mum’s fees were at £1,200 a week). The block bed that the Council pay was supposedly £400 a week. So as you can imagine most families would be unable to pay a top up towards the fees when the gap is so vast, especially if like my Mum, the individual’s income i.e. pension contributions are minimal and of the state pension variety.

I researched care home fees and obviously some counties are more expensive than others. That said the average across the country was in excess of £850 a week and given the Council my Mum resides in would be one of the more expensive, I could not fathom how the Council could operate with block beds at £400 a week. When I challenged them on this point they eventually responded explaining that as a result of a recent review their contribution towards the fees were increasing from £400 to £850 a week.

What an interesting coincidence… but one that I was delighted to hear about. With the care home reducing their fees and the Council increasing the contribution, I did as a good will gesture agree to a minimal £25 a week top up (although we made it clear to the Council it was a good will gesture and no contribution should be requested under law in these circumstances).

The agreement that I have arranged with the Council is in accordance with case law rather than Council policy in that I pay the Council rather than the care home directly. This ensures that as my Mum’s needs increase and the costs increase I won’t have to enter into another round of unpleasantness and negotiations again.

As you can tell I totally lost my trust with the Council. All I wanted was for my Mum to be treated fairly. I believe the very least the Council could do was organise a best interest meeting with the relevant stakeholders i.e. me (as her power of attorney), her GP, the Council and the Care Home to discuss what the appropriate next steps should be in my Mums best interests especially during these unprecedented pandemic times. This is something I constantly asked for but which the Council never organised.

It should also be noted that the Council wanted to move my Mum to a care home that had previously been deemed unsafe and had fairly recent headlines in the newspapers detailing serious abuse and neglect of residents. In addition when we visited this care home we asked detailed questions and the manager informed us of staff shortages which is another obvious concern. As I have highlighted in past blogs you should not underestimate the importance of doing your homework. Note that all care homes by law have to provide detailed assessments and inspection reports on their website.

To be fair to the Council, the complaints department has been very helpful and quick to respond to my grievances. I had suggested I would also request a Data Subject Access Request but decided against this when the Council started taking my concerns and complaints seriously.

The positives from this posting (aside from the fact my Mum gets to remain in her care home which I know she loves and where she receives wonderful care), is that so many people I spoke to from the free legal advisors to the MP’s office (all of whom had never met Mum or knew anything about her) really cared about her case and genuinely wanted to help. They followed up with me regularly and it was nice to witness the good in society.

I hope my post will help others about to embark on a similar journey with the Council. My advice is to persevere no matter how unpleasant it gets. Like me it may take a good 14+ months but you will get there in the end!