REACH Standards – constantly aspire for better Reflections on Supported Living today.

The Radio 4 programme, File on 4 on 12 February 2019 looked at supported living and what the increases in unexplained deaths and serious injuries mean for those living in supported living environments. At LDE we believe that institutionalisation can happen in any setting if strong values and principles are not driving how the support is designed and delivered. Good care and support cannot be achieved when economic factors rather than the people supported have come to dominate the shape of available care models…

To read more follow this link: REACH – Reflections on Supported Living today

Follow link to: A guide for people who want to purchase property for family members with disabilities to live in.

Disability Related Expenditure

Contributing to the cost of your care – is a 25% allowance enough?

Anyone with a personal budget and claiming DLA (Disability Living Allowance) or PIP (Personal Independence Payment) will no doubt by now have received a letter from Oxfordshire Adult Social Care telling them what their new contribution towards the cost of their care will be.

This means that from the 1^st October the amount that you are expected to pay towards the cost of your care services may have either increased or decreased depending on what you previously paid. OCC will no longer carry out an individual face to face financial assessment of your income and savings unless requested.  Instead they will send out forms for individuals to provide details of their income and savings.  They will deduct 25% of the care element of either DLA (Disability Living Allowance) or PIP (Personal Independence Payment) to allow you to keep part of this benefit to help towards any extra costs you may have due to your disability.

The care act statutory guidance says that the council must leave you with enough money “to pay for necessary disability-related expenditure to meet any needs which are not being met by the local authority”.  If you feel that your disability related expenditure is more then 25% each month then you can request a visit from the Financial Assessment team to ask for an individual assessment.

They can be contacted on 01865 323642 or FinancialAssessmentTeam@Oxfordshire.gov.uk

Read the document for examples of Disability Related Expenditure:

Download (PDF, Disability_Related_Expenditure.pdf)

Families asked us to produce some simple guidance on the Care Act 2014 so they know what their rights and rights of their relative are.

Follow the link to our:

•  Guide to the Care Act – Top Tips for Family Carers of People with Learning Disabilities

Related information that will be of interest:

• Together Matters have produced an excellent guide called – Thinking Ahead – A planning guide for families. You can download the guide here
• OxFSN’s guide to finding the right support. This was written for families who have children moving into adulthood, the information contained is equally useful to older family carers who are thinking of the next steps and supported living.