I asked for a copy of how the DP had been calculated as I had sent my own calculations showing there was no way I could reach the outcomes of the package on the DP allocated.
I labelled the letter as a formal complaint and sent it to the complaints team at the LA. It was investigated by a team leader and the outcome stated, “Carers Direct Payment is not designed to cover the full costs of any services that the carer wishes to utilise it for. It is a payment to assist the carer to seek additional support not necessarily to cover the full cost.” and “You have asked for a full breakdown of how the figure of £42.25 has been calculated. There is no formal calculator or formula for deciding Carer’s Direct Payments. Each situation is determined by consideration of the circumstances by the social care practitioner.”
This is not unusual but I agree that it is not correct in principle. The blog I did here looks at that issue and you might find that of some use.
As a result, they’ve said “I have considered your request to increase the amount and I agree with the decision that the Direct Payments Manager made, that the amount is proportionate and reasonable, and that there are no grounds to increase it.”
The whole point is that if this was a service user’s direct payment it would have to be sufficient to meet need, and you can say the same using the arguments on the blog page: ie what is the law for service users is presumptively the law for carers’ plans and budgets.
I’ve been told that I can “refer [my] concerns to the Complaints Team …within 20 working days of the date of [the] letter, informing which points of your complaint you remain dissatisfied with and the outcome you wish to achieve”
They are allowed to have stages of the complaints process under the Complaints regulations 2009.
However, as this was a formal complaint and I explained the outcome I wanted to achieve, I’m a bit confused. I would value advice as to whether I am being told the truth, whether they should be able to provide a breakdown to show how they reached the DP amount (how can they say it’s proportionate and reasonable otherwise?) and whether it should have been a team leader investigating the formal complaint. Any advice on what I should do next would be helpful too. Thank you.
You should respond to their invitation to proceed to the next stage and suggest that they seek legal advice from the ASC team and you should include a threat to refer it to the Monitoring Officer as a referral of a likely contravention of an enactment or rule of law, under s5 of the 1989 Local Government and Housing Act.