Financial Assessment

[sammyg50]

Hi I am new to this forum and after some advice as cannot find the answer.

I have a son who is 26 and lives at home with myself and my husband. He has special needs and attends a day service which the council pay for. He has just been sent a financial assessment form to fill in and it asks for contributions to rent/mortgage and council tax.

As he lives at home, what would be a reasonable amount to put on the form to charge him for this?

It doesnt ask for anything else like electric, gas, food ect just rent and council tax.

An advice would be much appreciated

I must add I am in Wales so may be different to England I am not sure

Thanks very much

Sammy

p.s he gets PIP higher rate for both and ESA

[SpeedyH]

Hi there. The system for paying for Care and Support in Wales is different to England so I don’t know the answer, I’m afraid. Local authorities in either country do not have to charge for adult social care but I expect they all do. They have quite a bit of discretion over what they include as income and expenditure when working out how much you have to pay. Each local authority must publish their own charging policy so google ‘adult social care charging policy for [your authority]’ and if you can’t find it phone up and ask for a copy. This s really important as knowing what is included in the assessment could save you a lot of money. In England, there are two categories of charging: for people who live in residential care homes and for those who receive care at home. You would fall into the second category with day services. There are a number of other general things that probably apply in Wales as well as England, like there is a minimum amount of money you must be left with each week, and the amount you are charged mustn’t be greater than the actual service you receive. You also have a right to ask someone to help you fill in the form. In my local authority you cannot charge rent to someone who is your relative living in the same home, so that might possibly be the case for you too. Google that charging policy is my best advice.

[BenjiB in reply to SpeedyH]

My friend was told to add up all the monthly outgoings and divide it by the number of people in the house.

[dymafi]

I have a 25 year old and we were asked the same thing. I charge my son a fifth of all bills (mortgage council tax utilities TV phone and broadband). This was because at the time there were 5 adults in the house. They looked at the figures and seemed happy. As his DLA and ESA are paid into my bank account each month we give him a cheque for what is effectively the change. I think it works out as him paying us roughly £77pw. I don't think ss take utilities into account but we are in England so the rules may be different. He has not up until now had to pay any charges for ss but they have told him from his next birthday he will have to pay £15pw. You could look up the local housing allowance rate for your area to see what the level is and suggest a figure in that region.

[Blackhouse]

Hi. Our household is exactly the same. We divide all household expenses by three. We include all communal outgoings - food, rates, (no mortgage) utilities, insurance, tv licence, petrol, etc. Anything leftover goes into an account i hold for our daughter.

[Lucacielle in reply to Blackhouse]

Hi

My son also lives at home...if i add it all up his benefits are not enough to cover all his expenditure. He attends a day centre with is funded by the council.

When I sent copies of utility bill to our council they disguarded them. Also any receipts of outings my son goes on e.g cinema, i was told it needs to be paid out of his pip allowance and it is not taken into consideration when doing his financial assessment. My son has many obsessional behaviours due to his autism, one of which is that he keeps buying produce from supermarkets without consuming them and just like to keep them in the cupboard before giving them away, I was told not to include any of these things.

I do find it all confusing and as every authority is different it is not easy to get advice.

[HolisticMum in reply to Lucacielle]

I was told i couldn't include council tax into outgoings for my son as if he was living in accommodation he would get benefit for council tax. But can't really see what that has to do with it seeing as we share the bills 4 ways??I have now been told to write down everything he has to buy. It is such a major task and I really can't face doing this, although I have started but looking up the price of everything just seems ridiculous. This is so stressful for me every year. I feel as parents we do all the work and they want some money back. Doing self directed support we also have to be the employer which is more work. I don't feel I have enough time to think for myself. Some people have what they called 'managed' budgets but those people I know get a lot of aggravation with them too and there is still work to do giving those managing it details of everything.

My other son, years ago had the contribution charge, I rang and said I needed help with detailing everything. A lovely lady came along, I showed her all what we purchased, or maybe just some of the things. Thus she knew from that our outgoings were high. So no contribution.

Our weekly food bill is high also because of dairy and wheat allergies.

All they seem to mention is £25. That wouldn't cover much in our household.

[VictoriaCA_Mencap]

Hello! As you live in Wales it might be best for you to speak to our sister organisation Mencap Cymru. The Wales Disability Helpline is 0808 8000 300 and further contact details are on this link: wales.mencap.org.uk/informa...

[DSSmith]

If the local authority had your son in their care and he didn't live with you, how much would he be charged for this?

Isn't it this figure that is used?

[BenjiB in reply to DSSmith]

Well my son is at residential college 38 weeks a year and the fees are £170,000. He’ll move this year to residential care and that’s about £150,000. It beggars belief that contributions are taken from our young people. Even if we wanted to and it was best for our son we could not afford to have him live at home.

[TapBlue]

Hello, when I did my son’s assessment I split all the bills between 3. Then we charge him rent. I also had to show his bank statements which showed that he paid for gym, clothing, dentist etc. The local authority accepted it and adjusted his care payments