Local Authority

si68

Hi. I’m posting this to get some information and make aware of my brother’s situation. My younger brother, Peter 52, has been wheelchair bound for thirty years due to a stroke. He only has the use of his right arm and leg but has full capacity.

Peter has resided with his mum, Rita 85, for thirty years. She made herself an appointee on Peter’s DWP and had full control of his finances (She said the social services had told her to do this, when I asked if it went through legal channels she said no!). I moved in to help Peter with his daily tasks and promote his independence as I’d noticed that Peter had not progressed in 30 years. (I subsequently learned that Rita had stopped his rehabilitative physiotherapy off her own back, she told Peter that the funding had stopped, even though this service came from the NHS, but she told me that Peter had stopped it himself. As Peter said, ‘why would I stop something that is going to make me better?’). I told Rita to stop opening Peter’s mail which she did every day. Peter never saw any DWP correspondence or any of his bank statements as Rita kept them from him. Peter looked at his latest bank statement. He asked me about some direct debits that he didn’t recognise. There was 3 life insurances, an appliance insurance and a monthly lottery. I asked Rita what these were and she said that she had taken them out when she hadn’t got a bank account, (I can assure you Rita has always had a bank account otherwise she couldn’t have had her pension and benefits paid into them, or pay for her catalog purchases). Prior to this in September 2023 Peter reported an assault by Rita on Peter to his social worker, who said this would put Peter under safeguarding (This never transpired). 

Three weeks after I discovered the financial irregularities Rita threw me out of the house and had all the locks changed. This had been planned in advance and not once was this mentioned to Peter, even though Peter’s name was on the tenancy along with Rita. Peter was at his day club, he never received any new keys and was never spoken to by a housing association official, so in essence he was locked out of his own home. Rita knew that I was helping with Peter’s independence so would have an idea on how this would affect Peter’s life. When Peter was eventually informed of the situation he said to the social worker that he ‘wasn’t going back to the house as he was scared what Rita would do if Simon (me) wasn’t there’. (This was never passed on to safeguarding). Despite Peter’s protests about not going back, it wasn’t until I told them how much danger Peter was in if he went back, it was decided that Peter be put into emergency respite. (We have an elder brother who has a history of attacking Peter and Rita. Rita had an indefinite restraining order on him, she ‘voluntary’ lifted this when I was thrown out).

Because Peter had refused to go back, the district authority deemed that he had made himself ‘intentionally homeless’, completely ignoring the fact that he was a victim of physical and financial abuse. He has been offered totally inappropriate properties, one which he couldn’t even get into. The housing officer had no idea about Peter’s needs. (This is a result of no MDT meeting due to the authorities failure to place Peter under safeguarding).

The house that Peter refused to go back to was fully adapted for his needs. It has a floor to ceiling lift to his bedroom, an adapted kitchen, a wet room and an accessible drive. This was paid for by the local authority. I’m not sure but the cost would be in excess of 40k+.

What I’m asking is, would the local authority have a vested interest in who resides at the house, given the financial input they have put in to meet Peters needs. 

Many thanks.