Hi, my name is tippycup200! Contribution charges for direct payments

tippycup200

can anyone advise me on contribution charges for direct payments, I have been asked to pay £74 a week for 13hrs, which provides me with two meal needs daily. I have no savings. I have been advised by my social worker that there is no minimum charge eg if I wanted to reduce my hours and buy a meal in daily from a cafe I would still be required to pay £74 weekly for half the package!!!  Any advice would be appreciated.

janer1967

Hi and welcome to the community 

Sorry I can't answer your question but sure others members will come along to help 

Feel free to join in or ask any questions 

Ross_Alumni

Hello @tippycup200

Welcome to the community, how are you? 

I am unsure as to the answer to your query about contribution charges, but I have tagged your question as unanswered so hopefully someone else will be along soon, I just wanted to wish you a warm welcome  

chiarieds

Hi @tippycup200 - I just wanted to welcome you to the community.   Unfortunately I don't know the answer to your question either, but hope someone else does.

Oxonlady

Hi @tippycup200, your charges do sound quite high.
I am charged £58 per week and I struggle to pay that.
When Social Services did a financial assessment, did you ask them to take into account any of your Disability-related expenses? This includes anything that you would not have to spend money on if you did not have a disability or chronic illness. This can include the purchase of pads, home delivery charges of your grocery shopping, any special creams you have to buy, there's a whole list of things you can claim for if you have receipts to prove your claims.
Having said that, there can be variations in the amount charged, from Borough to Borough and Council to Council. You may have to speak to your Financial Assessor again and seek advice on what further deductions can be made from your charges, according to your needs. 
I hope this helps. 

tippycup200

thank you Oxonlady I am not sure how to reply directly to you as I am a newby. Do you mind me asking how many hours you get for £58. I have tried to reduce the package but they still want the maximum charge which is just not flexible for the user.  I use a lot of alternative therapies including reiki and supplements but I was told they don't take these into the expenditure. I was receiving 13hrs but at the moment I am only using 8hrs of the care due to circumstances so one meal is actually costing me £114 a week with ingredients as I am having to pay the maximum contribution charge.   
 

Oxonlady

Hi @tippycup200, to reply to me, simply use the box below my comments and type @Oxonlady.
The whole charges system is non-sensical. The weekly amount you have to pay has nothing to do with the hours of Care you get but is based on your income and ability to pay.
I now receive 20 hours of care per week. 
Before Social Services unjustifiably reduced my hours in March 2019, I had been receiving 30 hours of care per week and was only paying charges of around £10.00 per week.
This means that for the last two years I have been receiving the least care but been left poorer than previous years due to the much higher charges. So not much progress for people who have chronic illnesses and disabilities.

With regards to your needs, you might like to consider whether it would be cheaper for you to employ someone privately? A self-employed person could offer the service you need for a specific fee, much like a window cleaner or gardener, paid by the hour...
I hope this helps. 

Lisatho11987777

Hi the charges are realy high these days some people pay alot more  as @Oxonlady has already  said it may work out cheaper if you paid private  for someone to do your meals 

Everything has gone up since care went  private 

tippycup200

I was unaware that care is now private  I also thought you had to have a certain amount of savings before paying for care. Looks like I will have to self fund. Thank you very much for your replies.