Paid carers

[pickthatupNOW]

My Father in law has dementia and is finding life on his own impossible. Dh & I have been taking turns in being with him during the day, but it has come to the stage where he really shouldn't be left on his own. He has always wanted to stay in his own home. He was in a residential home and hated it and although the staff try, they are very busy and he didn't really recieve the care he should have.We have looked at getting in a live in carer but my husband isn't keen on this.Would it be legal for my fil to pay me a "wage" each month so I could give up my job and care for him.I'm not looking for a high financial gain & would want to do it properly and pay tax and national insurance.

[bodiddly]

I can't see why not to be honest but it may be worth giving a call to Age Concern or the Alzheimers Society to find out more about paid carers. My step father has this but is fairly advanced - does your fil get his various allowances from the state. Have you had him assessed by social services to see what they can do to help?

[pickthatupNOW]

social services weren't that interested tbh. He has the means to pay for care luckily. We had a chat with a rep from the Alzheimers society a year or so ago but they weren't particulary helpful, just gave us some leaflets. I have a back ground in nursing/social care work, so they assume I know whats what

[mimimilk]

Pickthatup, if your FIl has funds to pay for his care privately theh in theory there is no reason, as far as i know working in this field, that he should not choose to pay you a wage to be that carer.

What I would be asking though is

Does he still have capacity to made decisions regarding his care needs and his preferences, ie be able to understand and retaing the information long enough to make a proper decision? If you are unsure then he should have a psychatrist who could help you with that. if he does not i would tread more carefully.

Secondly, do you or your husband have any duties or rewsponsibilities regarding FIL finances, do you help in either formally (EPA/LPA) or informally? Again if yes to either I would seek extra advice to confirm no conflict of interests (to protect yourself as much as FIL)

Bear in mind as well that if/when his savings drop below £22,250 he would be eligible for funding by Social services, they may or may not be willing to continue to pay you at the rates you have been used to, possibly not at all if they only use registered domiciliary care agencies, although you should be able to get round that by asking for Direct payments.

Good luck, I am all for people being cared for at home for as long as possible.

[MrsMuddle]

Mimimilk, my understanding of DP is that they can only be used to pay for care from close family relatives in "exceptional circumstances". Some local authorities are fine with it, but others are much stricter.

[mimimilk]

Hi Mrs Muddle

I am not an expert in Dp by any means! I have a working knowledge but basically rely on our 'link' person from the local Authority.

We have ben told close family can be employed by the client as long as they do not reside with the client themselves.

The stance with regards clients having to have capacity to agree to Dp seems to be changing too, previously we have also been told the client must have capacity but now apparently directs payments can be managed by a trust (we have one thats linked to the LA) and client does not necessarily have to have capacity.

All a bit confusing and no doubt big variations frpom place to place.

[notsoteenagemum]

My Auntie was going to do this for my Grandma, it was almost sorted but then she sadly passed away.
It is allowed though and I thinkit is a lovely thing for you to do pickthatupNOW

[MrsMuddle]

Mimimilk, I'm not an expert either, but I'm hoping to be by the end of the week! I've got the government guidance to read and summarise for Friday.

There's a big push on for everyone who gets any social care service to use DP, and although it's not obligatory (yet), the hope is that it will become the norm.

I've seen it work really well, but it can be time-consuming to manage if people are paying for more than one service, and if people use DP to pay for a PA, they have to take into account recruitment, training, sick pay etc. A lot of people who are elegible for DP don't have the mental energy required to become an employer.

[pickthatupNOW]

Thank you all for taking the time to reply.
My husband and his brother have power of attorney.However, apparently they now have to register/apply to a court that FIL is no longer capable of making his own financial decisions.I have said to dh, if we move in to FIL home and he pays me a wage to look after him,he would recive better care than if he went to a residential/nursing home.We wouldn't be selling our house, we would keep it.If my FIl died we would just move back to our own home.