Respite care for carers. Why are social services so unhelpfull?

[Ripeberry]

Just a question i would like to ask any carers of relatives out there.
Do social services help out with the cost of respite care or do you have to pay for all of it yourselves?
A relative of a client of mine has been finding it difficult for the last few months to care for her husband (had a stroke 10yrs ago and can't move much and can't talk).
She has not had a break from him for all that time.
Social services came out to her, and the first thing they said "Well done for saving us all this money by caring for your husband yourself" but we can't help you with the cost of respite care.
Basically, she can't afford the £800 or so for a week.
Do any of you receive any help with this kind of thing, are there any organisations who can help?
Thanks
AB

My dad has MS and has a full at-home care package (4 visits a day) which is part funded by social services - my parents make a contribution but it's a relatively small one. However I do think that on the (one) occasion that my mum has agreed to overnight care, they had to pay the full cost themselves. Most of the support they get was only put in place when my dad went into hospital and the MS nurse refused to countenance him going home until the support package was in place.

Is there a stroke support charity who could advise?

Social services in my area (South Wales) try to advise us to only use respite for 6 days or less, as the cost goes up dramatically after that. Because MIL and FIL are on attendance allowance (even though they miss the threshold for pension credit guarantee) s serv pays a proportion and we pay the difference.