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Financial contributions towards care, why so much?

DianeBrassington

Hi, my son is aged 23 and has PMDL, he has been in a residential setting since July last year and shares a lovely home with 5 other men. His Benefits total approx £185 of which are PIP Mobility and ESA. He is expected to contribute £102 per week towards his care, yet he is self funding therapies needed and transport getting to them as well as transport costs to social activities, hospital and health appointments. His Wheelchair is large and not easy to get on public transport and taxi fares average at £10 each way to most locations. So out of his £185 he pays out £145 on health and social activities and transport and is expected to contribute £102.....how can this be??? The maths does not work!! Feel like I am banging my head against a brick wall!!!

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Chloe_Alumni

Hi @DianeBrassington and a warm welcome to the community! Thank you for taking the time to share this with us and I can see how frustrating this must be!

Who has said he needs to contribute to his care? Does he have any savings?

Also, what level of care is this? For example, is it PA's funded by direct payments?

Here is some information about financial contributions that you may find helpful.

Please do keep us updated!

April2018mom

And I feel the same way about unwanted prescription expenses! My son takes bladder medication to manage his issues and even that cost us a fair bit. Whenever we tried out different brands of meds, fees were high. Fortunately there are ways to reduce the costs and get help with expenses namely benefits etc.

Adrian_Scope

Welcome to the community @DianeBrassington. Have you checked your son is getting everything he is entitled to with regards to benefits? I hope Chloe's response has helped you a little with the financial contributions side of things but please let me know if you have any other questions.

@April2018mom, as your son is a child you shouldn't be having to pay for prescriptions for him. Have you queried this at all?

DianeBrassington

Thanks @Chloe_Scope and @Adrian_Scope

My son is in residential care, he has no savings and requires 24 hour care. This if part funded 39% by Health ans the rest Social Care. The LA did a financial assessment and said he should only be left with £24 per week from his ESA but can keep his mobility part of PIP, he does not get any other benefits such as the care component of PIP because he is in a residential setting and the financial assessment does not need to include disability related expenses as all his needs should be met within that residential setting - but they are not. This month alone he has had to pay £60 in taxi fares for 2 x hospital appointments and 1 x routine dental appointment. He could get an ambulance for transport but as he would have to wait around for the transport he would end up using up his 1:1 hours which he only get 3 per day for going out!!

poppy123456

April2018mom said:

And I feel the same way about unwanted prescription expenses! My son takes bladder medication to manage his issues and even that cost us a fair bit. Whenever we tried out different brands of meds, fees were high. Fortunately there are ways to reduce the costs and get help with expenses namely benefits etc.

Isn't your son a child? Prescriptions for children are free, you shouldn't be paying for these. https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/help-with-health-costs/get-help-with-prescription-costs/

April2018mom

Adrian_Scope said:

Welcome to the community @DianeBrassington. Have you checked your son is getting everything he is entitled to with regards to benefits? I hope Chloe's response has helped you a little with the financial contributions side of things but please let me know if you have any other questions.

@April2018mom, as your son is a child you shouldn't be having to pay for prescriptions for him. Have you queried this at all?

I did email them back today. My son’s social worker is handling the issue on my behalf.

poppy123456

@April2018mom there's no need to involve a social worker for the prescriptions, all you need to do is tick the box on the back of the prescription to state that your child is under 16 because all children receive free NHS treatment.

Adrian_Scope

Have you managed to make any progress getting someone to look at the contributions your son is having to make @DianeBrassington?