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Direct payments and PAs

hadenough1

hi i would like some advice on direct payments please as im having problems
i have pas that i employ and some do overnight stays
according to the pas they should be paid for each hour over night according to the new law?
i have nearly used up my budget to pay them so i asked a social worker for help and now im being told i should not have done this?
i have not had a social worker since october who was supposed to review the care plan then
as my daughter has other medical needs that need to be taken into account
i have always had enough funds in the budget to cover costs but now i dont have enough to pay the pas and am waiting to near back from the social worker for extra funding
meanwhile my pas have not been paid there full wages which were due on friday
and i am now starting to get messages of them as they are wanting the rest of their wages ??
do you have any advice please as im thinking of going to citizens advice for help
im not sleeping at night due to all the stress

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JennysDad

Hello @hadenough1 and welcome to the community. I don't have the answers to your questions but we will have people who can help. I am going to tag a couple of ladies who I know have been involved in similar discussions before.
Tagging @Angela_Scope and @Zoe_Scope in case you can help.
Warmest best wishes to you,
Richard

hadenough1

thankyou for your help i dont know if i have posted it in the right area for advice

JennysDad

Hi @hadenough1 and yes, you're fine posting here. 'Welcomes and Introductions' gives us a chance to meet you and get some idea of the kind of help you're looking for.
I am slapping myself on the wrist for not even saying 'hello and welcome' - a mental glitch on my part. We ARE very glad to have you, and I trust we'll get you some useful advice sorted out.
Warmest best wishes, always,
Richard

[Deleted User]

Hello @hadenough1 ,

I am really sorry to hear about the difficulties you are having with your local authority.

My understanding is your carers are correct they should be paid by the hour.

The Gov.uk website states: https://www.gov.uk/night-working-hours

The National Minimum Wage applies to night workers but there isn’t a higher night working rate.

A sleep shift in the night period (eg care worker) counts as working hours if the worker is both:

on call
in the workplace

Workers on a sleep shift must be paid the National Minimum Wage.

See the Commons briefing National Minimum Wage - sleep in care

More information can be obtained from Acas helpline which provides help and advice for workers and employers on workers’ rights at work tel. 0300 123 1100.

As to your local authority refusing to pay and not conducting a review, in the first instance you could contact the social care team again and request to speak to the manager, politely and calmly explain they are not providing sufficient funds to cover your daughter assessed eligible needs and ask them to rectify this as you believe this to be unlawful.

If this does not resolve the issue or you are unable to speak to a manger then you can put in an urgent complaint, address it to the monitoring officer at the council. The MO or their deputy is responsible for considering any matter referred to them which involves a coherent statement that the local authority is in breach of the law in something it has done or failed to do. You could also send a copy of the complaint to the director of social care since your daughters eligible needs cant be met if she is not provided with enough money in her personal budget to meet them.

We have a template letter on our website you could use https://www.scope.org.uk/support/disabled-people/social-care/complaints

The charity Cerebra also have some great template letters

http://www.cerebra.org.uk/help-and-information/legal-help/precedent-letters/england/

If you can email me your phone number to helpline@scope.org.uk I can call you to discuss things further.

Kind Regards,

Zoe

Scope helpline

hadenough1

hi just a update, ive been on the phone all week chasing this up,
the on duty social worker has given me back dated money, as they should have been paying more since april last year and have not.
its sunday now and im still waiting for it to go into the account so i can pay the rest of the wages owed to the pas they have had there wages on friday 20th and are now waiting on the holiday pay in there wages as i didnot have enough in the account to cover.
social services and direct payments dont seem to be bothered that i cannot pay my pas what they are owed and just keep telling me it will take 7 days to clear ?
which is very frustrating for my pas and myself
thankyou for your help

[Deleted User]

Hi,

So sorry to hear that you had to chase up all week when it should have been straight forward, but im glad you have now (almost) got things resolved.

Best Wishes,

Zoe

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