Social services asking for money..what rights do I have ?

[onestepat]

I was my grans appointee with DWP
She has moved into care home.
They've taken control of finances as it will be government funded
I have gave them bank account details as she has a few thousand in.
She has a tin which has two thousand in.
After speaking with aunt we decided that money (tin money )would be kept with her insurance books and use that when she passes away (hopefully not for years ) to give her a lovely funeral.
Now social services have asked for that tin.
Do I have to hand it over?

It isn't standard practice
The social worker was chatting shit
Simple as that. Oh don't be so ridiculous,. They cannot just "chat shit", was there no discharge planning meeting from the hospital?

What a shit time you're having
Put the bloody money in Nans account and keep a copy of the paying in slip.

You are upset, and understandably. But this isn't about a tin of money. You know your gran needs the care but you didn't want this to happen. So you're focusing on the money and blaming the SW because it makes you feel angry, not sad. And anger is easier.

Take care of yourself.

Sorry to hear about your nan. Hope you'll get to see her soon.

The life insurance policy will pay for the funeral. That's what it was bought for!

Put the money in your nan's bank account and give the receipt to social services.

@MrsTerryPratchett

You are upset, and understandably. But this isn't about a tin of money. You know your gran needs the care but you didn't want this to happen. So you're focusing on the money and blaming the SW because it makes you feel angry, not sad. And anger is easier.

Take care of yourself.

I have to agree with this Op- Hopefully you can work with them to ensure everyones wishes and needs are taken into consideration- I'd contact Age UK and ask for some support

The life insurance policy is only for £2000 (give or take ) I'm not sure how far that would go.
There was no discharge plan.
A man from the rehab unit visited on the Friday saying she was ready for discharge.
Saturday S/W rang saying she had decided she needed full time care and as she had no assets the L/A would be taking over finances.
That's all I was told
Since then s/s wanted to put her in the care home with no covid test
The home objected
Finally they did a test then that came back inconclusive
Eventually she's in the care home

Also I don't have my grans bank books so I can't put it in the bank.
I have never had access to those

Do you know where her bank books or statements are. If you were appointee for her pension the info may also be there uf it was paid into her account. There would have been some form of discharge planning which would involve the doctors nurses rehab team and the social worker. Social workers dont just discharge patients on their own. They would have to look into her finances to know she would get council funding. Is this the nice carehome that you found who insisted on a cv test before she could go there.

They don't do financial assessments on discharge at present. Everyone going into care or needs home care (for the first time) gets 'Covid 19 funding' to make the discharge quicker (so the person isn't in hospital longer than necessary and risks catching Covid). At the moment people won't be assessed to see if they're social services, CHC or self funding until the pandemic is over but I imagine that'll change to when the UK is in a better position as you can imagine it's costing the state a fortune. In my county alone there are over 500 people in receipt of Covid 19 funding.

Rightly or wrongly OP social services have concerns about your gran's finances.

There isn't really any other reason why they would take an interest to this extent, it costs them time and money they don't have. The social worker has by the sounds of it tried to deal with it sensitively rather than rushing in and accusing anyone of anything.

Hand over the tin, there is no reason for you to keep it (your reluctance to do so is probably forming part of their concern) and part of the financial assessment completed by the local authority includes enough money left over for a funeral.

Saturday S/W rang saying she had decided she needed full time care Saturday? Are you sure it was definitely a social worker? None of the SW l know or have worked with work on the weekends, do understand different trusts work differently?

@TitianaTitsling

Saturday S/W rang saying she had decided she needed full time care Saturday? Are you sure it was definitely a social worker? None of the SW l know or have worked with work on the weekends, do understand different trusts work differently?

Most local authorities have gone to 7 day working during lockdown to keep hospital discharge going and the hospitals unburdened so whilst Saturday working social workers are unusual in normal times it's the norm in these unusual times.

@TitianaTitsling in my area we have social workers working to discharge from the district generals at the moment due to Covid 19, getting people out as quickly as quickly as possible after they are medically fit.

Ah that's good, just was confused at the Saturday bit!

I thought it was strange too as it was Saturday afternoon but makes sense with covid.

Sounds awful and it doesn't sound like yours and your grans wishes have been explored.
Has your gran got the mental capacity to decide if she wants to go home? If not there should have been a mental capacity assessment stating that she lacks the capacity to make the decision about her discharge destination and then moved to a best interests meeting taking into account her previous wishes, families wishes and those of the professionals, the rehab team should have completed various assessments to feed into this, mobility, night time needs, how she will wash, dress, get meals and medications and then decide if her needs can be met at home with carers or if she would be unsafe overnight or in between the carers calls and those needs can't be met by the family then a Care home placement might be needed.
You're right there is a six week disregard, depending on your grans mental capacity and functional ability it might be that she could manage back at home with support and if she doesn't want to stay there and he's capacity then she should be supported to go home.
Could you speak to the rehabilitation team as it sounds like the therapists were planning for her to return home so I guess they didn't have major concerns.
This is not solely the decision of the social worker and she should be using the patients, family and rehab teams information and work with that.
People are allowed to keep some savings - I think £23250 but I'd prepay for the funeral as that sounds really important. In out local authority there is a financial team called fairer charging who do the financial assessment- the social worker refers to them - maybe ask to speak to them - families do manage finances and pay the pension contribution directly to the care home so as long as you are willing to do that it shouldn't be a problem.
If you don't get an appropriate response make a complaint to the nhs rehab team and to the social services team and say that you feel your gran is being deprived of her liberty - that should start getting you answers.
Sorry you're going through this, it's a competent minefield. Let us know how you get on x

OP you have had lots of good advice from so many people over the time you have been posting about your situation.
You really need to take it on board. You have been posting about your gran and your aunt for a long time.
Age UK are excellent. They will be able to help you. Call them.

Maybe take some time to read over your previous threads about your situation, everything is sorted out now, nana is in a safe carehome that you liked, the finances are sorted so you don't need to worry about that any more, you did an amazing job of looking after your nan but it was agreed that she needed 24hr care in a specialist EMI setting. Hopefully once the carehomes are open again you will be able to visit her soon.

If you aren't allowed to visit due to the virus

You should be able to phone the care home & ask how your Nan is once a day

Have you done this, do you have their phone number ?

TBH, when the local authority is going to be paying the lion’s share, social workers don’t say a care home is necessary unless it absolutely is, because it’s extremely expensive. So often they will bend over backwards to keep the person at home. Unless your nan has a very fat pension indeed, it’s not going to even begin to cover care home costs.

As pps have said, she will still be allowed a certain amount for personal expenditure.

@DreamerDayz22 I've been ringing up every day and speaking to her.
I take up her sweets and fav biscuits every week.
I was able to do a face call in the rehab but now only voice calls
It's better than nothing and I can ask her what she's had to eat.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER her dementia is quite bad now.
She thinks the care home is actually her home and also she thinks I'm there with her(which I guess is a blessing )

For those telling the OP she should have kept quiet about the tin - what, you mean lie? That’s fraud and keeping her Grans money in her own possession would certainly raise some eyebrows r.e. financial abuse.

OP you did the right thing telling them. Even if you take over the finances now you will still have to include the £2k in your Gran’s assets. I strongly suggest you don’t make the money ‘disappear’ now, especially when it has already been declared. If there’s even a whiff of you hiding assets they certainly won’t be happy to let you take over financial control.

If your Gran has lost capacity it is now too late to obtain power of attorney. Deputyship is expensive and not easy to obtain. Social services will want deputyship to be organised as there will be ongoing decisions to be made regarding your Gran’s care and finances.

Another who thinks you should pay the money into the bank - could you pay it into the same account that her pension goes into?

Whatever you do make sure you do not 'hide' the money, they may think you have hidden much more than this. If you have not got POA then the Court of Protection will act for her.

When my Dad went into care, I had POA and was surprised just how difficult everything was even having that POA. I felt I had lost my Dad and someone had taken him over, if that makes sense.

That certainly is a blessing, @onestepat.
For the first few months in her care home my poor mother was endlessly begging to go home, but there was no way - her dementia was pretty bad by then, but in her own head she was fine - had no idea that her short term memory was zero and she could no longer even make herself a cup of tea. Nor that she had so often been anxious and frightened at home, usually of things she couldn’t even name.
I do hope your nan will continue to settle well. 💐