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Hi All
My mum is in a care home receiving end-of-life care, she's 87 and has dementia, and a few chronic conditions, and has been in the home since April. There was an assessment between nhs and social services and it was decided that she has to contribute to costs for her own care now. She just gets her pension, and she has, as of now, £10k in a LLoyds account which is accumulated pension. The council have pressed me to become an appointed trustee so I can pay the council all her pension money, but I have backed out, because I am scared and because my life is busy enough. I just got a call from the council social services trying to get me to change my mind, but I refused and the woman said, with a somewhat threatening tone, that fair enough, the council will simply get a court of protection order over my mum's finances then. I said fine, she's got naff all anyway, as long as they don't take everything and leave her with nothing to pay for her funeral. She didn't like my response. My questions therefore are, 1) Can the council take the rest of what she has in her LLoyds account? 2) How long will it take for council to gain control of her financial affairs.
I have agreed and signed up to become my mum's appointed representative for her mental health deprivation of liberty, so that I look out for her interests in case I think she is suffering physically or mentally, but I don't want to be involved in the financial stuff because aside for sheer lack of time I have strained relations with siblings and my brother who has mental health issues is likely to accuse me of all sorts, even if I was trying to do good, if he knows I have any kind of control.
I also added, when speaking to this woman about half an hour ago, that it seems to me that, without any formal authority, the council have managed to take my mum's money over the last four years anyway, which I said for two reasons:
1) The office at XXX Lodge (an assisted housing complex run by Redbridge Council where my mum last lived (together with her sister, Mavis, who lived in same block but different flats) always managed my mum's money for her, with access to her Post Office card account. This was the arrangement from the outset. I wrote to the manager at XXX Lodge in May this year asking for copies of the paperwork detailing the arrangements in place on my mum's behalf but did not hear back, but she told Mavis that there is no money left in my mum's post office account; that they just have a small amount of cash belonging to my mum of about £143. They are still in possession of my mum's PO bank card and PIN number. I have some old bank statements which show that in 2018 my mum had nearly £14k in her Post Office account, and a statement dated 20 May 2019 showing a balance of £8.4k but the statements in between are missing. And as I say the manager at XXX Lodge is saying there is no money left. Her Lloyds account is a substitute account for PO account as I think DWP stopped using PO for pension payments.
2) In early 2017 my mum was admitted as a mental health emergency into another Redbridge council care home, Cranvale, where she stayed for a year, before moving into XXX Lodge. And I have a few emails where Cranvale are talking about her money and seems they managed to get access to it.
My last question is what is the procedure if I want to report safeguarding potential fraud, because I do think Redbridge council have not had her best interests at heart the last five or so years? I'm just wondering if I should do that before the council step in and gain control and basically erase any evidence, or muddy the audit trail so it becomes impossible to establish if my mum has been exploited. I keep reading and hearing about people with less than 23k getting their care paid for, but that is not proving to be the case with my mum. The guy from the council who I spoke with a few weeks ago said they would leave my mum £30 of her pension, think monthly, to pay for toiletries but they are entitled to the rest.
I was estranged from my mum but have seen a lot of her since May since which time I have visited her at least weekly (160 mile round trip).
SORRY TO BE SO LONG WINDED. THANK YOU FOR ANY GUIDANCE.
My mum is in a care home receiving end-of-life care, she's 87 and has dementia, and a few chronic conditions, and has been in the home since April. There was an assessment between nhs and social services and it was decided that she has to contribute to costs for her own care now. She just gets her pension, and she has, as of now, £10k in a LLoyds account which is accumulated pension. The council have pressed me to become an appointed trustee so I can pay the council all her pension money, but I have backed out, because I am scared and because my life is busy enough. I just got a call from the council social services trying to get me to change my mind, but I refused and the woman said, with a somewhat threatening tone, that fair enough, the council will simply get a court of protection order over my mum's finances then. I said fine, she's got naff all anyway, as long as they don't take everything and leave her with nothing to pay for her funeral. She didn't like my response. My questions therefore are, 1) Can the council take the rest of what she has in her LLoyds account? 2) How long will it take for council to gain control of her financial affairs.
I have agreed and signed up to become my mum's appointed representative for her mental health deprivation of liberty, so that I look out for her interests in case I think she is suffering physically or mentally, but I don't want to be involved in the financial stuff because aside for sheer lack of time I have strained relations with siblings and my brother who has mental health issues is likely to accuse me of all sorts, even if I was trying to do good, if he knows I have any kind of control.
I also added, when speaking to this woman about half an hour ago, that it seems to me that, without any formal authority, the council have managed to take my mum's money over the last four years anyway, which I said for two reasons:
1) The office at XXX Lodge (an assisted housing complex run by Redbridge Council where my mum last lived (together with her sister, Mavis, who lived in same block but different flats) always managed my mum's money for her, with access to her Post Office card account. This was the arrangement from the outset. I wrote to the manager at XXX Lodge in May this year asking for copies of the paperwork detailing the arrangements in place on my mum's behalf but did not hear back, but she told Mavis that there is no money left in my mum's post office account; that they just have a small amount of cash belonging to my mum of about £143. They are still in possession of my mum's PO bank card and PIN number. I have some old bank statements which show that in 2018 my mum had nearly £14k in her Post Office account, and a statement dated 20 May 2019 showing a balance of £8.4k but the statements in between are missing. And as I say the manager at XXX Lodge is saying there is no money left. Her Lloyds account is a substitute account for PO account as I think DWP stopped using PO for pension payments.
2) In early 2017 my mum was admitted as a mental health emergency into another Redbridge council care home, Cranvale, where she stayed for a year, before moving into XXX Lodge. And I have a few emails where Cranvale are talking about her money and seems they managed to get access to it.
My last question is what is the procedure if I want to report safeguarding potential fraud, because I do think Redbridge council have not had her best interests at heart the last five or so years? I'm just wondering if I should do that before the council step in and gain control and basically erase any evidence, or muddy the audit trail so it becomes impossible to establish if my mum has been exploited. I keep reading and hearing about people with less than 23k getting their care paid for, but that is not proving to be the case with my mum. The guy from the council who I spoke with a few weeks ago said they would leave my mum £30 of her pension, think monthly, to pay for toiletries but they are entitled to the rest.
I was estranged from my mum but have seen a lot of her since May since which time I have visited her at least weekly (160 mile round trip).
SORRY TO BE SO LONG WINDED. THANK YOU FOR ANY GUIDANCE.
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