OK - another grrr!!!

So cross - it is bad enough that we have to pay it and my house is having to go, without inefficiency at their end.

I will calm down in a minute!!

For goodness sake lucky, you didn’t need this. Good for you for being honestly angry. I hope you get an abject apology, a reduction in fees would be better but I know that’s not going to happen. .

OMG!! that is too awful. We should march on Parliament. I am serious.
It is an outrage, like kicking you into the gutter.

Have you told your councillor or MP?
I would forward your letter and screen shot to them too if only to flag up the inefficiency.

Is there a human being you can talk to who could help, on the council staff?

Can they really force you to move?

I think you every right to Grrr!

I'm having a grrr ! too luckygirl, just tried to ring DWP about a blue badge for mum,recorded message nobody there to take my call at the moment, also the NHS to make mum an appointment at the hosp, same story.I've also just tried to make myself a gp appointment, only you be told to ring Thursday, then there will be some appointments in two weeks time!.Think the whole country has come to a standstill

Luckygirl I thought that you did not have to sell your house. What are you going to live on and what will happen if you require similar care to DH? To pay for his care could you be out on the streets? It is horrendous.

@KatyJ - contact Age uk in your area. They helped me with my blue badge and were efficient and quick when I was getting nothing but hassle. They have since been helpful in a lot of other areas too. Just google their phone number and take it from there, they are lovely!

Are you downsizing to a small house/flat Luckygirl ?
I thought there was a certain amount to pay, but only to a level of savings? Am sure we would all like to know, as this situation can happen to any of us.
Various governments have never really got to grips with it.

This is a complex situation, you cannot be forced out of, or made to sell your house.
What can happen is that you are not left with enough money to maintain your house or your standard of living.
My friend was left in this situation and had to claim benefits, a thing she never ,ever thought, would happen.
The LA can and will take all SP and half of any private pension. All the savings of the person in care will have to be used down to a certain level.
The person left will have to use all of their savings to maintain the home and themselves until £10,000 is left ,then benefits can be claimed.

NfkDumpling, you asked:

Can they really force you to move?

No they can't. Luckygirl is selling her house voluntarily as she wants (or feels obliged) to pay top up fees for a decent care home.

Although the local authority must provide 'appropriate' care and can't demand top ups, the cheaper homes are not what I'd call suitable for anyone. I wouldn't leave my dog there, let alone a relative!

You have proof that you paid and you have tried to contact them so I would do as I use to do ignore the demands they will catch up with themselves in the end.

I have a different problem, I should have been paying my daughters care fees since May 2019, £176 a month but never once did I receive an invoice or any details about paying. I did phone them a few times to see what was going on but never had an answer. So I left it and just put the money in a saving account. Two weeks ago received an invoices for £900 to be paid within 14 days. When I contacted them it turned out it was all their fault they had given my daughter the wrong code on their computer and her invoices were going to .... Green Waste.
You couldn't make it up. Agreed to pay them £20 a month off the arrears despite having saved the money. The money can go towards getting her bungalow decorated which is badly needed.

Thank you Ex.Will try them if I have any more bother.

Although the local authority must provide 'appropriate' care and can't demand top ups, the cheaper homes are not what I'd call suitable for anyone. I wouldn't leave my dog there, let alone a relative!

Precisely Hetty58

Luckygirl, the problem is that, should you ever need care yourself (fingers crossed you don't) there won't be much left to pay for it.

I remember looking around a home recommended for my father. My mother was being very (far too) enthusiastic about it (having refused point blank to have him return home from hospital). I was absolutely horrified by it, having never known that such places exist.

It smelled (very strongly) of stale urine, the bedroom was tiny - with a view of the car park. In the 'lounge', there was a crowd of chairs occupied by bored, depressed, disheveled and hopeless occupants.

'You will NOT send him here!' was all I said. As it turned out, the home wouldn't accept him anyway. No home would, no hospice space was available - so he ended his days in hospital.

Thanks Hetty. There are no homes in my area which do not require a top up. Perhaps we’re lucky, or perhaps they’re all dire. None can get staff that I do know.

And your last post is what I was thinking.

(I mean the one before last at 08.43!)

councils.. government... I won`t go into my personal details too much, but suffice it to say,,, my husband died Nov.12th. they sent me a bill within days, a relative phoned them on my behalf, and explained financial details,,
they sent another bill, different amount
I sent email, they sent another bill, different amount, finally I managed to speak with someone on the phone, very helpful sympathetic person.. and still and still they have not rectified the amount I should pay them.

If I was near to suicide, I would have been tipped over the edge, I tell you, I have considered it.
It is unbelievable the unnecessary, and unsympathetic response from government , at all levels
at least I have some relatives who can help, goodness knows how anyone on their own copes.

I accept we have to pay for our care but it annoys me that lazy people (I do not mean ill or disabled) those who have had everything paid for and claimed every benefit possible and maybe sneakily working as well, get looked after for free.
Best wishes to all sorting out care for loved ones.

I think you will find they will just say that this overlapped with your payment. Alot of these letters are computer generised and are just fired off. You have the prove that you paid.

Yes they get "looked after "for "free" , but not what you would want for anyone you care about !

Can I just say that some care homes provided by the local authority are really good ones. I must admit the sad tales from a huge amount of sources are very worrying, but I used to work in a lovely one, where the residents were happy and looked after really well, and their families often praised us for the care we gave. The smell of urine was sometimes obvious - particularly first thing in the mornings, but this was very, very quickly dealt with, and the management kept on top of every aspect of the running of the home in a manner that made me say I'd have no hesitation in placing my own father in there - as indeed he did eventually. Sometimes it's only the bad stories that we hear about so please don't be too afraid of the future in care homes for ourselves or a family member. Hopefully there's a choice of homes, but go and have a good look around, and if possible, talk to residents and their families to get a fuller picture.

When my friend's husbands's dementia became too much for her to cope with, she began looking for suitable care homes. We are lucky in Scotland that a certain amount of elderly care is Government funded.

She took a retired social worker with her on inspection of said homes, with DH in tow because she couldn't leave him and she wanted him to see the places and meet the people running them as well as the other residents.
She was sad to report to me that in only one of these homes did anyone ask to meet her DH, to talk to him and to make him feel welcome..This was the place they chose. Another good point was that they had very little staff turnover since it had first opened.

He was as happy as he could be in the circumstances and she was infinitely more relaxed.