Can the LA force a carer to over the payroll/ invoicing of Direct Payment? Desperate, please help.

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Hi all, my younger (adult) brother has Downs. He's a delight.

I'm a social worker who has previously practised in Children with Disabilities (so have set up many many care packages in my time!) - in my opinion my brother has quite a modest care package considering the severity of his disability - thats fine, its small but his care package works for him.

The care package used to be commissioned by the LA however a few years back they switched everybody over to DP whether they liked it or not. With this change the LA offered a payroll service so that those who weren't able to managed the finances themselves would not be disadvantaged. I understand all LA's were providing this kind of service at the time (or they certainly were in my neck of the woods).

Anyway, my Mum (DB's main carer) got a phone call from the LA the other day saying they are now withdrawing the payroll service and as she manages his other finances (basically a series of direct debits coming in and out - hardly rocket science!) the responsibility falls to her to manage it all.

My Mum is now besides herself with worry. My brother has recently gone blind and we are having to fight the hospital every step of the way for even the most basic treatment, this is in addition of course to the 24/7 care she provides normally. She also looks after her widowed elderly mother and my Dad's eldery widowed mother (who has recently had a fall). Furthermore my Dad has recently been made redundant from his full time job and is suffering depression as a result (and as a result of some historical issues). My poor Mother is juggling all of this, plus working to keep the mortgage covered. She literally has no life of her own.

Furthermore neither of my parents are educated, they have very little confidence in terms of literacy and numeracy. All of this is against a backdrop of poverty.

They are just not in a headspace to take on this extra responsibility. Please, does anybody know if the LA are allowed to take away this payroll/admin type service??

I feel that I should know but its been a long time since I've worked in this field.

Sorry title should say 'take over..'

Sorry things are hard. Yes, they can, is the short answer. There will be organisations that your Mum can contract to do the work for her, but the whole point of DP is that the disabled person or their agent is the 'employer' and as such, has to take on the duties of an employer.

Some local authorities offer payroll through other organisations such as Shaw Trust or Rowan Trust, maybe you could see if these operate in your area.

Quick post on my way to work. In Scotland local authors can't force someone to have a DP package. Will come back later.

I guess that's my issue Agent, we never wanted DP in the first place, he was getting a great service under the old way, but the LA said everybody was moving over to DP but not to worry as the payroll etc would be commissioned out to an external company for those who couldn't manage it themselves. And now they are removing said payroll service. There has been no element of choice in this.

Thanks for taking time out to respond guys, will come back to this after work.

No he doesn't have PAs as such, his DPs are used to pay for a taxi and two services/ groups where there is a staffing ratio built in to that iyswim? These are the same services he was getting under the old system, they've basically just changed how they're paid for. They are great, progressive services that have done wonders for his confidence.

Thanks for your advice Hothead, that sounds quite straightforward. I'm over 200 miles from my family and work full time but if thats all it entails I'd sooner do the above myself than take on (yet another) fight with the LA. After 25 years of this crap you learn to pick your fights haha! As I said my Mum has enough on her plate, but I'll be happy to sort out the bank account and BACS payment on her/ my DB's behalf.

Thanks again.

I've found the bit on the gov website that says you can give up DP and council must arrange service, but I'm on my phone and going out, but if you look up directgov you 'll find it.

Great, I've found it. Thanks again for all your help folks.