Q&As on Eligibility for funding or services

A person with s117 aftercare status and services but also getting services under a parallel Care Act care package, was refused a Decision Support Tool exercise for CHC eligibility purposes, on the footing that the ICB will only let that go forwards if a clinician states that there is no longer a risk of hospitalisation due to mental health issues. Can this possibly be right?

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If a clinician were to assess that a person was no longer at risk of hospitalisation due to mental health issues, the upshot would be that the person was no longer in need of the s.117 status, because both purposes of aftercare must still be needed for the status to be an entitlement. The entitlement […]

A person with s117 aftercare status and services but also getting services under a parallel Care Act care package, was refused a Decision Support Tool exercise for CHC eligibility purposes, on the footing that the ICB will only let that go forwards if a clinician states that there is no longer a risk of hospitalisation due to mental health issues. Can this possibly be right? Read More »

Adult Social Care Assessments – Is there any law or principle that enables a social worker to ONLY assess what they consider social care needs and exclude anything they deem health related?

Leave a Comment / Assessment and Eligibility, Eligibility Findings Q&As, Q&As on Eligibility for funding or services /

Local authorities are supposed to make assessment itself, holistic and wider than just social care needs, if, for no other reason, just to refer people to the right ‘opening’ to make other agencies in the welfare law framework, consider their own duties. In particular, under the Care Act Assessment Regulations, councils are obliged to make

Adult Social Care Assessments – Is there any law or principle that enables a social worker to ONLY assess what they consider social care needs and exclude anything they deem health related? Read More »

I live with my twin brother who requires a lot of personal care (Aspergers, MECFS and had a massive stroke in 2018) but over the last two years it’s been impossible to recruit and retain PAs, because where we live is quite rural and his needs are demanding and unpredictable. We have a family friend who uses his direct payments to pay for his family who live with him for the care they give, so we asked the social worker if I could be paid to care for my brother while we live together. The social worker said it could be agreed because of the situation, but she told me if I received pay to care and my brother (who owns the house) needed to go into a care home at some point in the future they would be able to force the sale of the house to pay for his care, meaning I’d be made homeless and lose my inheritance. Is this true?

Leave a Comment / Appropriateness, Sufficiency and Transparency of a care plan, Assessment and Eligibility, Care Planning, Budgets and Choice Rights, Carer Q&As, Direct Payments and Personal Health Budgets, Eligibility Findings Q&As, Employing family members with a Direct Payment or health budget, Housing Q&As, How housing rights fit in with the Care Act, Public law principles relevant to Care Planning, Q&As on Eligibility for funding or services, Q&As on Housing, Q&As on Informal Carers, Supported Living and Care, The rights of carers, in relation to health and social care services and support, Using a Direct Payment or PHB to pay Close Family Members in the same household /

This is really more of a referral than a one off question, but at a level of PRINCIPLE we can say this: A person with a direct payment which is insufficient to recruit PAs shoulda) challenge the sufficiency of the personal budget, evidencing the efforts they have made to recruitb) ask the council to agree

I live with my twin brother who requires a lot of personal care (Aspergers, MECFS and had a massive stroke in 2018) but over the last two years it’s been impossible to recruit and retain PAs, because where we live is quite rural and his needs are demanding and unpredictable. We have a family friend who uses his direct payments to pay for his family who live with him for the care they give, so we asked the social worker if I could be paid to care for my brother while we live together. The social worker said it could be agreed because of the situation, but she told me if I received pay to care and my brother (who owns the house) needed to go into a care home at some point in the future they would be able to force the sale of the house to pay for his care, meaning I’d be made homeless and lose my inheritance. Is this true? Read More »

Is it legal for a council to install monitoring equipment in a budget holders home, or insist they have a specialist group of council care staff put in to monitor and record that person’s needs and activities in order to continue their care budget when there has been no changes in needs?

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Yes it is, as long as the person’s human rights are considered, ie their right to respect for their home and their private life.  In those circumstances – ie some sensitivity as to what the tech monitors and assuming it leaves some parts of the person’s life private – as per expectations of common decency

Is it legal for a council to install monitoring equipment in a budget holders home, or insist they have a specialist group of council care staff put in to monitor and record that person’s needs and activities in order to continue their care budget when there has been no changes in needs? Read More »

Should the provision of a safespace/sensory space within the home (for maintaining behaviour, meeting sensory needs and reducing instances and intensity of behaviour) be part of a CHC budget? This seems to be pushed back and forth between the Health, Social Services and Disabled Facilities Grant Housing Authority teams.

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This question needs to be broken down: the only things that make it into a care plan of any sort are things which a professional accepts is part of what’s required to meet the needs to an adequate appropriate standard. That’s the first thing.  If this is a question as to who should be paying

Should the provision of a safespace/sensory space within the home (for maintaining behaviour, meeting sensory needs and reducing instances and intensity of behaviour) be part of a CHC budget? This seems to be pushed back and forth between the Health, Social Services and Disabled Facilities Grant Housing Authority teams. Read More »

a) Should the ICB use the Care Act when considering CHC status, e.g. to identify eligible social care needs alongside health needs? b) If so, when needs have been identified is there a legal duty to meet them?

Leave a Comment / Assessment and Eligibility, Care Planning and reviews for CHC patients in light of Public Law Principles, Eligibility Findings Q&As, How NHS services and Continuing NHS Health Care fit in with the Care Act, Q&As on Eligibility for funding or services, The Decision Support Tool and decision making team exercise, The ICB’s duties and challenging the decision, The scope of the Care Act and ‘Primary Health Need’ as the central concept for eligibility /

a) No, the ICB is only responsible for evaluating whether someone’s health, social and personal care needs ADD UP to the concept of Primary Health Need, which then entitles the person to CHC – NHS continuing healthcare status and funding. Once a person is eligible for that form of care, there is a duty to

a) Should the ICB use the Care Act when considering CHC status, e.g. to identify eligible social care needs alongside health needs? b) If so, when needs have been identified is there a legal duty to meet them? Read More »

What considerations does a social worker need to have when an adult with eligible needs has NRPF and what additional steps are required in the assessment process?

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This is too long a question to be answered by this service but the answer can be googled and found here:  https://guidance.nrpfnetwork.org.uk/reader/practice-guidance-adults/ (which does not mention the Aburas case, despite being dated March 2023, so it is not the be all and end all on the subject, in our view) https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/legal/housing_options/help_for_people_ineligible_for_housing_or_benefits/restrictions_on_community_care_help_for_people_from_abroad (not sure when last

What considerations does a social worker need to have when an adult with eligible needs has NRPF and what additional steps are required in the assessment process? Read More »

Can I challenge Social Care on failing to meet my needs as a carer?

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Yes, but only if you have gone through s10 Carer’s Assessment process, and been found eligible for support, and yet refused the funding for the rational cost of meeting your support needs. Putting this another way, they are the decision makers as to what they feel they must support or otherwise, but they are bound

Can I challenge Social Care on failing to meet my needs as a carer? Read More »

How do assessments remain ‘carer blind’ in situations where family members are involved and provide paid care via Direct Payments?

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What they are paid to do, from the care plan, is simply ignored, for the purposes of considering the person’s inability to achieve and impact arising from that deficit, across the eligibility domains. The same rule is applied to the care paid for through any commissioned contract, otherwise nobody would ever have their full needs

How do assessments remain ‘carer blind’ in situations where family members are involved and provide paid care via Direct Payments? Read More »