Paid carers on holiday?

jino124

My brother-in-law uses an electric wheelchair, and needs a specially-adapted home (hoists, etc) and visits by two paid carers three times a day (2 x 3 x 1hrs approx daily). He's agreed with his (English) local authority to manage his own budget, and pays privately for the carers.

I'm aware that, although adapted holiday accommodation of the type he'd need is rare, it nonetheless exists (at least in the UK). The real sticking point seems to be a) arranging carers and, b) paying for them.

Apologies for the lengthy stuff below, but I know next to nothing on this subject and am hungry for details! He and my sister have only ever once made an (abortive) attempt at a holiday in about eight years, and my sister is under the impression that they and their daughter can just never go away as a family. It would be great to be able to help.


Arranging carers

Does anyone have an obligation to provide you with paid carers for a holiday?

Is the local authority obliged to help make arrangements for you to have paid carers in some place where you go on holiday? Is your private care provider obliged to arrange to send carers with you on holiday if you request this?

It sounds like in my brother-in-law's case the private care provider that deals with him day-to-day has said it cannot ever arrange to send carers with him on a holiday, at any price, and regardless of how much notice they're given. Assuming they're entitled to refuse to do that, what are his options?

Do you just need to be vigilant to ensure that the company you sign up with for day-to-day care also offers to send carers with you on holiday? If they don't, is it feasible to get carers short-term from another provider for just a week or so?

Paying for carers

Is there a right to extra funding to cover costs associated with paying for carers on holiday?

Is the state's assumption that you ought to just manage your usual income from disability benefits in such a way that you can afford these sorts of occasional extra costs, or can you receive extra lump sums for this? If so, is this an actual right or just some discretionary thing?

Note that my sister has a high enough income that they're ineligible for anything that is means-tested (but not so high that they wouldn't need funding for this!)

If anyone has it, I'd love to see some actual rules which lay out eligibility criteria, limits, etc, etc, as I have this sense of dread that the answer will be "it depends".

Lastly...

While it would also be nice to know about charitable schemes, I'm primarily interested in knowing what legally-enforceable rights my brother-in-law has in terms of assistance from the state. If such rights indeed exist, a reference to actual law would be amazing, but an 'official' source of any kind (even something vague on a government website) would also be really welcome!

poppy123456

There's no obligation for local Authorities to give extra funding to pay for a carer to go on holiday with you.

They could arrange a private carer theirself and pay for them to go away with them. The only thing with this, it hourly rate or daily rate of pay would likely need to be agreed.

I think this is the downside of having a care company arrange the care for you, rather than stick to the same privately employed person.

There maybe some grants available to help pay for the cost of a carer. I found this link here. https://www.ablecommunitycare.com/holiday-care

There's also some information here https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/social-care-and-support-guide/support-and-benefits-for-carers/carer-breaks-and-respite-care/

However, i can't see anything in that link above the suggests the cost of paying a carer to go with you can be covered.