Disability Related Expenses

Lane
Lane Community Member Posts: 5 Listener
edited March 2021 in Everyday life
LA's should take disability related expenses into account when calculating your assessed charge.  Unfortunately they do not always do so.  However, if you think your assessed charge is wrong, follow your LA's complaint procedure all the way to the ombudsmen if necessary.  They will decide if a LA has followed the rules in regards to charging.

Comments

  • Lane
    Lane Community Member Posts: 5 Listener
    Essex changed their rules on disability related expenses a couple of years ago.  They refused a lot of DRE's that they had previously accepted, which resulted in assessed charges going through the roof.  
  • Lane
    Lane Community Member Posts: 5 Listener
    The governments directive on what should be taken into account had not changed.  A lot of people had all of their DRE's disallowed.    
  • Lane
    Lane Community Member Posts: 5 Listener
    The government sets out what's a DRE not the LA is the point.  If LA's got it right every time you would not need an ombudsmen to look into whether an LA has followed the directives correctly.
  • Lane
    Lane Community Member Posts: 5 Listener
    The point is they cannot ignore the care and support statutory guidance, and if they do, you can go to the ombudsmen.  To get to the ombudsmen you need to follow the complaints procedure first.  I did not say it was exclusively for charging.  If the ombudsmen finds that the LA acted correctly then they will not investigate.  However, IF they are not sure that the LA has followed correct procedures for example, financial assessments, they will investigate.

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