Paying for care

I've got a social services assessment tomorrow. My stepdaughter will be there with me.The purpose of the assessment is to get me more support so my stepdaughter can spend more quality time with me and not be preoccupied all the time attending to things.  Some background detail-from 2015 I've gradually lost over £90 a week in benefits ( switch to PIP,transfer to universal credit) .  I realise I'll have to use PIP for care but am worried they'll want more money than that which I can ill afford if I want any quality of life.

I reckon I can afford 3 hours care if PIP money is used . I am not sure they'll say  I need that much care or more or  not. The sad thing is if the government hadn't targeted me as a disabled person I could have afforded  5-6 hours care if it was needed.

Ultimately it may come down to sacrificing some care needs to stay financially solvent or to not do so but spend my time stressed out worrying about finances.

Parents
  • I'd start the other way around, work out what you actually need care for and then work out how much time that requires, that way you know what you actually need. You might find you need the three, five, or two, but if what you need can be done in two it doesn't make sense to pay for three.

  • Former Member  I agree what you are saying makes sense but I haven't a clue how to do that. Obviously though I don't want to pay for time not needed. If they were to say five I couldn't afford it anyway without spending my time stressed out over finances. 

  • I would say you could do it similar to how we do it with work projects. You go through and work out what tasks you need them to do, then ascribe a time value to each of these. These could be things your Stepdaughter does for you that you would like done by your carers and also ask her what additional things she things you might need. 

    If you have a list of essential, and non-essential but nice to have things, that can help you balance things. You could then ask her to ascribe a time to each of those, so task 1 takes 20 minutes, task 2 takes 10 minutes etc. You then know how many you'd need for essential and the cost of the non-essential ones and you can make a choice of how much you want to spend.

    I wouldn't leave it to them to decide because they will just be making an arbitrary decision. It might seem a difficult thing to quantify but I think if you went through it with your stepdaughter you might find it quite easy with the two of you working together.

  • Yeah, that happens. Just remember, this is the kind of thing that our minds do, it doesn’t mean you don’t need the help or that you don’t deserve it. I have this as a bit of a running theme in my mind, then I stop and look at my life and I’m forced to admit, that yes I need the help and yes I deserve it. It’s just an after effect of the assessment, it’s normal, for us! Give yourself a few days to process the assessment etc. 

  • Day after social services assessment. Mind in 'Do I need/deserve the help?" mode.

  • Hi firemonkey, once the social worker has worked out an indicative amount of what your personal budget could be, you will have a financial assessment. Most people on benefits or low incomes, pay little to no money towards their care. They (government) can only take a certain amount of money from you. Take your time with this process, don’t be rushed into anything and if considering using a care agency, make sure your personal budget covers the cost. The social worker can ask for an increased budget to meet the cost of the care agency fees. You can reveive your budget via a credit card type system, which is really easy to manage and you don’t have the paperwork that you have if you take the money direct through the bank. Your step daughter can still be in charge of things for you. 

Reply
  • Hi firemonkey, once the social worker has worked out an indicative amount of what your personal budget could be, you will have a financial assessment. Most people on benefits or low incomes, pay little to no money towards their care. They (government) can only take a certain amount of money from you. Take your time with this process, don’t be rushed into anything and if considering using a care agency, make sure your personal budget covers the cost. The social worker can ask for an increased budget to meet the cost of the care agency fees. You can reveive your budget via a credit card type system, which is really easy to manage and you don’t have the paperwork that you have if you take the money direct through the bank. Your step daughter can still be in charge of things for you. 

Children
  • Yeah, that happens. Just remember, this is the kind of thing that our minds do, it doesn’t mean you don’t need the help or that you don’t deserve it. I have this as a bit of a running theme in my mind, then I stop and look at my life and I’m forced to admit, that yes I need the help and yes I deserve it. It’s just an after effect of the assessment, it’s normal, for us! Give yourself a few days to process the assessment etc. 

  • Day after social services assessment. Mind in 'Do I need/deserve the help?" mode.