Do Barnet Council want to grab your grannies house? Consultation on deferred care payments scheme

I was a tad disturbed to read a press release on the Councils website. It seems that they are consulting about a scheme to take peoples property as collateral against the cost of care.They have put the following press release on their website - http://www.barnet.gov.uk/news/article/603/views_sought_on_a_new_way_to_pay_for_residential_and_nursing_care_costs -

Barnet Council is seeking the views of residents on proposals which would allow older people to defer the cost of their care.The proposals are part of changes the government is making through the introduction of the Care Act 2014 to the ways in which social care services are delivered nationally.

This Act requires all local authorities to offer a universal deferred payments scheme from April 2015.

The proposals will mean people may not need to sell their home in their lifetime to pay for the cost of their care. Under the scheme, people who need to move into residential care or a nursing home, and who meet nationally set eligibility criteria, will have the option to enter into a legal agreement with the council to defer or delay payments until some time in the future or until after the person passes away. Care costs would be paid for by the council and then be recovered once the property has been sold. Currently the Department of Health has set out draft guidance on how the universal deferred payment scheme will work.

Barnet Council has drafted its proposals for implementing the new scheme which takes into account Department of Health guidance.The council would like to hear residents’ views on these proposals.

The consultation runs until 21 October.

Further information on the proposals and the questionnaire can be found by visiting the engage website.

Alternatively residents can request a hard copy by phoning 020 8359 4666.

The council is also running a number of focus groups for community organisations which support people already using social care services or who may need to use them in the future.

Community organisations which would like to arrange a session should do so by email. 

Councillor Sachin Rajput, Chairman of the Adults and Safeguarding Committee, said: “This consultation is about important proposals for people who may need to move into residential care or a nursing home. 

“We are very keen to hear what people have to say about how these changes should be offered, and I would like to encourage as many people as possible to get in touch and tell us what they think.”

I am rather confused about these proposals. The full details are detailed here - http://engage.barnet.gov.uk/adult-social-services/consultation-on-deferred-payments-scheme/user_uploads/udp-proposed-scheme-draft-policy-090914.pdf-2 -  it seems that the idea of the scheme is that the council take a charge on a property if one of the residents is to move into care. This will allow a spouse/relatives to continue living in the property. Whilst in the short term this will help relatives, what happenes when the relative in residential care passes away? At this point the debt becomes due and presumably the house is sold.

Section 17.5 explains the end game with this scheme

17.5 The deferred payment will automatically come to an end on a person’s death. The debt can either be paid from a person’s estate or by a third party, for example a family member may choose to settle the debt rather than sell the deceased’s property. If the agreement is terminated through a person’s death the total amount due becomes payable within 90 days after the person dies.

 What concerns me about this scheme is not the fact that peoples homes are used as collateral against debt run up through infirmity. It is not unreasonable for asset rich people to pay for their own care or even for the council to be able to recover the costs from their estate. What concerns me is the small print. The money is recoverable within 90 days of the death of the person in care. When my mother died it took nearly two years to resolve issues of probate and sell her property. It strikes me that 90 days is far too short a period to reasonably expect a family to complete a sale. As the debt is secured against a rising asset, surely a more reasonable period would be six months. As presumably other family members will have to find alternative living arrangements, they will have a lot on their plate.

Another thing which slightly worries me is that there seems to be some small print. I wonder how and who calculates the interest and legal charges. What really worries me is that in these days of Capita, where every "commercial opportunity" is exploited, will the interest and charges be fully transparanet and cleared up front, or will there be a "nasty hidden surprise".

17.3  On termination the full amount due (care charges, interest accrued, administrative and legal fees) will be paid to the Council. 

It is vital that in this situation all parties are 100% clear as to exactly what the costs will be.

It is vitally important that people who have been involved in this sort of issue give the benefit of their experience to the council.  Please fill in the consultation - Here are all the details http://engage.barnet.gov.uk/adult-social-services/consultation-on-deferred-payments-scheme/consult_view

Monkeys bite back - the scandal of Barnet Council consultations

Are you a monkey? If you are a resident of Barnet, the Council clearly thinks you are. They use a tool called "Survey Monkey" to conduct consultations. It accurately reflects the fact that the Cabinet of Barnet Council clearly consider themselves to be the "Organ Grinders" and everyone else to be the dancing monkeys.

In Barnet consulation means rigged surveys, which are ignored whatever the result. In my book, a consultation means explaining in detail what you are proposing, having a two way dialog with those affected and publishing the results. For a change as fundamental as One Barnet, there should be roadshows, open discussions,Q&A sessions. BT and Capita should have toured the Borough explaining the proposition and how it affects people. Did they? Of course not.

What I am saying is not some Opium induced pipe dream. Public organisations do it all the time. I attended several such "roadshows" organised by Network Rail to explain the Thameslink program and how it would affect Mill Hill. The Managing Director of First Capital Connect (an outsourced contractor) Elaine Holt visited Mill Hill and met disgruntled commuters in Fratelli's Cafe Bar, after a period of poor performance. Several changes were made as a direct result, which have been of enormous benefit to local people. Although I am not a fan of Rail Franchising or First Group, I acknowledge that they made an effort. How many people in Barnet have actually had the opportunity to discuss the One Barnet proposal with the contractors? In Barnet we have public question time, where residents get to ask a question of councillors, get a non answer and then get told to go away.

The reason? Because they think we are monkeys. They think we are stupid and not worthy of actually being consulted. Let me ask a fundamental question. What do you think the job of Barnet Council is supposed to be? The answer is that they are the organisation we trust to protect, develop and maintain the local environment and economy for the benefit of residents, businesses and visitors.

I have a message to Barnet Council and the plutocracy at the top, getting fat on my tax. Did you know that Monkeys have teeth and bite. 

How on earth can anyone claim that destroying 300 jobs in a recession is doing this?

Guest Blog - Surveys, Consultations and Family Carers

By Barbara Jacobson,  Linda Edwards and Janet Leifer,

Barnet Adult Social Care and Health have a duty to see that family carers’ rights are protected and that they are given sufficient support to care for their loved ones.

It can seem as though Barnet Adult Social Care and Health think everything can be fixed by conducting a survey or carrying out a consultation. This is not a view shared by carers themselves.

An 87-year-old family carer explains what it feels like to be a carer:

“On the surface things may not look too difficult but any carer of someone
with dementia could tell you this is not the case - you are relentlessly on
duty night and day. You are continually supervising personal care, cleaning
the bathroom, changing sheets, washing clothes, supervising medication,
and ensuring some stimulating activities, trying to have quality time with them
and at the same time fighting the continual desire to run away from it all.” 

Will a survey fix these issues? 

Family Carer Surveys

Family carers have asked what is the purpose of these nonsensical surveys that are now being completed so often.  No one appears to know!   These family carer surveys, costing a lot of money to complete, paint a picture that is invalid because what has been evaluated does not exist! But they do appear to satisfy the “tick box” culture in Barnet Adult Social Care and Health!!

How will a survey help the family carer who is  “basically watching someone you love fall to pieces in front of your eyes?   You have to keep going and do your best.  I find it soul destroying and am overwhelmed by the situations I have to deal with.” Family carer

Consultation Process

Another area of perceived ‘success’ for LBB Adult Social Care and Health is their "Consultation" process. They have held many chalk and talk events disguised as "Consultations" when in reality, they have already decreed what is going to take place. 

‘Success’ because they have demonstrated that they have followed their internal procedures.  However, their methods are flawed because their intentions were to continue in the "Tick Box" game that ......   reigns supreme in LBB  Social Care and Health."  

Recipients of services forget to remind them not only how lucky we are that they only pretended to consult with us but that they made up our minds for us before their pretence of the "Consultation" process took place!!

Social Care for Vulnerable Families and their Carers

LBB Adult Social Care and Health has recently come under attack for their lack of 'care' to vulnerable families. Have the criticisms been justified?  When you decide, please read the Family Carer Survey results alongside the day-to-day experiences here from a carer living in Barnet:

“In our experience Barnet Adult Health and Social Care does not exist - all they do is assess and review assessments.  Barnet Adult Social Care and Health is an insult to every single resident in Barnet.  As I have said before there is no adult social care in the London Borough of Barnet, who are not capable of safeguarding any living creature.

All the assessments and reviews carried out by Barnet social workers are a box ticking exercise and a way of seeing if they can reduce the person's level of need so Barnet Adult Social Care and Health can wash their hands of them.

Janet Leifer"

How could we all be so silly as to not realise that our role in the brave new world of Barnet social care is to fill in surveys to say what a marvellous service we receive, participate in consultations that have already been decided and be grateful for whatever service we receive, no matter how appalling. In this Brave New World, we should realise that so long as targets are met, then everything must be simply marvellous. 

Linda Edwards and Janet Leifer, Family Carers

PS  Here's what I sent out earlier today. It made my blood boil!  On one page, (LBB web site) the survey asks your view on council tax, while elsewhere on the site it says the decision has been made. Consultation or con act?

I have just finished the Finance and Business Planning Consultation on Barnet's website. First, how do you find out about these consultations – and there are about 6 others still live – unless you browse this website? I regret having missed some. How do people without computers get to participate? 

MOST IMPORTANT right now is that everyone – I mean everyone – takes a look at this consultation. You have to answer the questions on each page to move forward – just put in anything, then don't finish and submit if you don't have the patience or time to do this thoroughly, but get to the pages where suddenly One Barnet is mentioned, and mentioned as a done deal. Then you're asked for your comments on the savings. Look at the table in the link: a few numbers, no explanations. Are the council going to try to use this farce to say that they have consulted with the residents, are they planning this as a ruse to avoid a judicial review

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FinanceandBusinessPlanningSurvey
 

Barbara Jacobson