Daughter's benefits suspended as she's in hospital. Should she still be making care contributions?

PamE

My daughter has been in hospital for 8 weeks and is likely to remain in hospital for a while.  She pays a contribution to the local authority for her non-residential care support.  Her PIP and ESA has been suspended because she is in hospital.  However, the local authority are still charging her for her contribution, even though she is in hospital and not getting any of her usual support.  Does anyone know if the local authority should still be taking her contribution from her now her benefits have been suspended whilst she is in hospital?

L_Volunteer

Hi @PamE. Welcome to Scope's forum. It is great to see you have joined us. How are you today?

Thanks for your post and what a great question too! Unfortunately, local authority contribution is not an area of my expertise. This means I can only hope someone with more knowledge in this area will be able to respond to you soon.

In the meantime, I just wanted to respond to greet you and let you know we hear you and are here for you. It sounds really tough that your daughter is still being charged for her contribution. Not least because she has been in hospital for 8 weeks, she is not getting any of her usual support and her PIP and ESA have been suspended.

If we can do anything to help, please just let us know. We are all here for you and your daughter 

poppy123456

ESA should continue to be paid while in hospital, are you sure this has stopped? PIP stops after 1 month. If she was claiming the Severe disability premium in with her ESA then this will also stop because of the PIP. Carers allowance also stops. If she's claiming Income Related ESA then the Enhanced disability premium stops after 52 weeks.

Can't answer your question on the care contributions but i would think that if she's not receiving the care then there's nothing to pay.

PamE

Thank you for your comments.  Just a quick update - my daughter is still in hospital unfortunately and is making slow progress, she has now been in hospital for over 3 months.  I had a reply from the Local Authority regarding the continuation of her contributions to her care and they have said that the contributions she is still making whilst in hospital are accruing in case she needs extra care when she returns home.  I have since emailed the LA again to enquire if it is written in legislation that she should still be required to pay her contributions whilst in hospital and I also pointed out that she has accrued many support hours over the last few years due to reduced support throughout the Pandemic and also prior to, and since then, when there have staff shortages and she hasn't had all the support to which she is entitled on her Care Plan.   I have yet to receive a reply, and that was a month ago!! 
Just to confirm - her PIP was suspended and her ESA was reduced but luckily is enough to continue paying her care contributions!
I'll keep everyone posted if there are any further developments.
Thank you for your assistance.

L_Volunteer

Thank you for updating us @PamE. It sounds really tough that your daughter is still in hospital and is making slow progress, having now been in hospital for over 3 months. 

How are you feeling at the moment? It sounds really positive that you are determined to ensure your daughter receives the care and support she needs and deserves.

Looking forward to hearing your updates should there be any further developments. In the meantime, please don't hesitate to let us know if we can do anything to support you through this 

Aardvark

Hello Pam 

I am new here and was just looking around to see how the boards work.

If i understand correctly your daughter pays a 'care contribution' towards her social care package. 
She is not recieving any of her carer/pa/agency shifts as in hospital. 

The council are still paying in so they expect her too.. it doesnt make sens eto me either but the system is so tricky. 

The 'care contribution' is means assessed.. as her income has changed its likely her contribution amount will change. So that could be one way to approach this? 

It may also be possible for the council to pause payments.. claw back wat they have paid during her hospital stay and then reimburse her.  I would try talking to your councils finance team for Social care. 

If she employs her own PA/Carer is she paying a retainer to them.. my contracts allow me to do that for a set time 


If she needs more help coming home from hospital they should increase her care package or as you say she uses the contingency pot of money / accrued unused hours.