Single Occupancy Milk, Toilet Rolls separate fridge

[Cakes2695]

Dear Community

Just a little bit of advice on consumption and appliances.

4 Carton milk purchased for 1 person . This was lasting now it's not ?

The milk isn't lasting 5 days .. Arrives Monday afternoon - None left by the Saturday morning.?

Toilet rolls running out or disappearing

Should I allow a separate Fridge upstairs office - They care company aren't paying for the running of anything in the office or overnight stays. They don't have insurance incase it was to damage the house.

Fed up parent ! Seems to be a total lack of regard for the person or her home ..

[TC65]

Good morning

When I used to use an agency to support my son who also has a single tenancy I made it very clear from the outset that staff needed to provide their own milk , food etc but were very welcome to store in the fridge and take it home at the end of their shift . This worked very well , I didn’t ask people to bring their own toilet roll as I think that’s step too far most work places provide toilet roll but not food etc .

I did notice on one occasion that he seemed to be going through a ridiculous amount of washing pods I mentioned this to staff and reminded them that my son has to pay for everything and it soon stopped .

I now employ a staff team and haven’t had any problems . I have found that a lot of staff want to apply the same rules as they have when working in care homes or supported living environments and I do have to remind them this is my sons home and he has to budget in the same way as they do.

I hope this is helpful

[Chocolate-heals-all]

There’s a borderline between legitimate “make yourself at home” and theft. Bear in mind that the workers are on very low pay. If they’re walking out with toilet roll, it’s theft. If they’re using a lot, because they have a medical condition for example, it’s a workplace requirement. We have a worker who usually helps themselves to breakfast at our place, with our consent, although they’ve given up asking for sugar (we keep ours hidden).

I think it’s worth telling the care company about the change that’s happened. Also tell the social worker from the local authority who commissioned the care. If she doesn’t have a social worker, tell the duty social worker. The LA need to have suspected pilfering on their record. Can you pin it down to a date? The agency can see whether there was a change of staffing. Most staff members are punctilious about not walking off with property belonging to a client. They know it’s theft and an abuse of trust. It’s definitely a sackable offence. I have a family member who has carers, and I think they don’t even accept a cup of tea from her.

If the agency deal with this promptly then you can retain some faith in them. We once had this with living-in helpers, stuff going missing, and the agency removed both of them from the home of the vulnerable person and brought in a new pair of workers. They knew which was the one who held primary responsibility, but they said that this attitude is contagious, and that’s why they got rid of them both.

Your daughter is presumably on a low income and therefore probably can’t afford to offer open access to her fridge and to her household store cupboard. So I think it does make sense for the staff room to have its own fridge. One can now buy a fridge, designed to keep drinks cool for guests, which automatically switches off if it’s left open.

I wonder whether the local authority is charging your daughter for the services of the care company. If so, you could tell them you want her financial situation re-assessed because of extra disability-related expenses, and add up all these things. The cost of the fridge if she has to pay for that. The cost of extra toilet-paper and of a bit of milk if you decide that workers should be able to help themselves to a bit sometimes. (When my son is out with support workers , he pays for their transport expenses, and their lunch along with his lunch, because these are work expenses the support worker can’t easily afford) The cost of insurance if you decide to start paying that. All those disability-related expenses should be counted and deducted from what she pays the local authority. So they will end up carrying these peripheral costs.

This situation seems to be pointing to a bigger picture of negligence by the local authority in taking on a care company that is sloppy both about insurance and about the honesty of its staff. If you’re paying for the care company via direct payments and if you selected it, you might consider trying to find a different care company. That might mean going back to the local authority and saying you need your daughter’s direct payments to be increased, because a company that follows good practice will probably charge more. But you might not have to switch: you might be entirely satisfied with the care company’s response, if you approach them with a complaint.

Here’s a link to an explanation about different types of insurance. It’s written by an insurance company that wants your business, so there’s some bias there, but it does point out that there are some legal requirements for insurance and some types of insurance which are simply a good idea. Arguably, the local authority should refuse to give any contract to any care company that doesn’t hold third-party insurance against a claim by your daughter against an employee of theirs, for theft or for accidental harm. And there’s a paragraph about clients taking out their own insurance policy, if they’re acting as employers.

surewise.com/carers-insuran...

[Mummypam]

good morning. I understand your frustration. My daughter also has a single tenancy with care provider. With a constant team of carers.

I very much value the team, and feel that I want them to be happy working with my daughter. To this end we supply all milk coffee and tea bags. And make sure they realise that we are happy for them to help themselves. There has never been an issue over this. Don’t get me wrong the situation is not perfect but it’s good as we can make it. As my daughter is peg fed they do bring their own food in so there is no issue there.