Mil - brain damage

[Actupfishy]

Sorry guys - it's a long one!
My mil suffered a brain hemmorhage 5 years ago, she was only 52 at the time 😔

Since then the extent of her damage has been largely unknown, whilst she has been able to maintain a senior role in the public sector we have our suspicions that the longevity of this was mainly due to her colleagues 'carrying' her.

During this period her spending has been astronomical- more than 4k on average per month and always short a few weeks in and getting loans against her property left right and centre.

Her mental and physical health has very much been on a decline for the past year. Her house is in squalor, she chain smokes, hoards and continues to constantly buy items. SS have recently been in touch following constant requests and have agreed to potentially do a one off clean. (We have tried but it goes back to how it was within days).

she has recently retired from her job, no pentsion and today we have worked out that with pip and universal credit she is over 1000 short of where she would need to be to just keep a roof over her head.

Here is the dilemma, we cannot afford to support her financially.

If she were to sell her property she has some equity (around 50k) but given her current spending habits she will tear through that in a matter of months as she has with recent large loans and i'm of the impression that this amount of money would stop any UC.
Just to note although this wreckless behaviour is infuriating, it's very much a result of the brain damage - she was nothing like this before the incident.
Has anyone got any advice or been in a similar situation?

How does she not have a pension if she's in the public sector?

Sorry no help at all on the main points, but surely she has a pension if she maintained a senior public sector job? That must be the first thing to look into.

She opted out, was a SP for a long time and qualified fairly late .
silly I know, but guess she never foreseen this.

Does she have sufficient insight into her issues to give her DC LPOA over her finances? I’d request a SS assessment of a vulnerable adult to see what they can suggest. Although she’s very young perhaps she’d benefit from a supported living situation?

Mental capacity assessment and POA?

Why has she retired in her 50s if she cannot afford to .

I hadn't thought of assisted accommodation would benefit her. Will certainly look into whether or not that could be an option.

POA just looks like a minefield but certainly needs looking into, she doesn't have the capacity to make financial decisions at all.

Contact your local Headway branch and they will be helpful. Also Stepchange for advice on debts. Agree that supported living might be a good idea. She would have to live on her capital until it runs out and then apply again for UC. PIP isn't means tested.

Because she's brain damaged

Thank you!

Does she acknowledge that she has any issues? Was she under a psychologist post brain injury (she should have been) HeadWay are a very good organisation… sadly they will have seen this many times before. Have social services been involved to do a mental capacity assessment? Has she seen an occupational therapist? You should have a local community crisis response team… although they may not specialise on brain injury they should be able to support her and support any applications for help to keep her living conditions and personal care on track… it sounds really difficult for you all 😥

I can recommend getting in touch with headway, and trying to find out what local support exists.

Most areas have some kind of caseworker / coordinator that the GP could refer to. Also some regions have a very active headway local branch offering lots of free advice and support.

Does she have any input from neuro rehabilitation consultant or team? Her GP could potentially refer your MiL on to a rehab consultant or rehab teams such as occupational therapy or neuropsychology for help with insight, planning and daily activity goal planning.

Also agree with pp about lasting power of attorney. You could also ask for a mental capacity assessment, but given she returned to work and presumably every day life she maybe deemed to have capacity, so she would have to agree to give you POA and agree for it to be enacted.

Ill health retirement is the nice words given to people who have been dismissed on the grounds of capability.

Sounds like she's been through Occupational Health and they've confirmed that she is physically/mentally unable to fulfil the requirements of her role and there is no prospect of her being able to do so in future for that role or of any other, even with Reasonable Adjustments.

As a result, had she been a member of the LGPS, she'd qualify for her pension as the second part of the panel considering her termination's decisions - but as she wasn't, it was solely dismissal, but worded in the way that makes it clear that it wasn't her fault.

The POA absolutely needs looking into. It may be too late.

If she can talk her way through a decent conversation with the bank maybe the first step is to get someone as third party authority on her bank account(s). That way someone can help keep an eye on her finances. Won't stop her spending perhaps but at least you'd know if there's going to be a crisis. TPA is free, reasonalby easy to arrange and means you could have online access to her account(s), a debit card you could use etc. You could ensure that money is removed from her account when it comes in and then fed back in to help control what she is spending perhaps.

The bank(s) would have to believe she is of reasonably sound mind and that she's entering into this willingly. Same as she would for a POA but without so much paperwork and cost.