Partnership Boards success over cost-of-living and ability to pay for care

In some cases, we have heard that people are considering cancelling or not agreeing to care because they cannot afford to pay or are worried that delays in financial assessment will lead to large arrears that they cannot pay.

Our local Healthwatch Partnership Boards, along with a number of other local organisations and groups, have shared these concerns with Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council.

In response, both councils said that they understood that due to the current cost of living crisis things may be very difficult at the moment and nobody should consider having to cancel their care because they cannot afford it.

The Financial Assessment services for both councils have said that if people are considering this, then they should contact their council’s Financial Assessment Team for a discussion to see if they can help in any way.

How Financial Assessment Teams can help

If you decide to contact the relevant Financial Assessment Team, they can check that you are claiming all relevant disability related expenditure and that you are receiving all the benefits to which you are entitled.  

For anyone worried that delays in their financial assessment will lead to large arrears that they cannot pay, you will not begin to be charged for your assessed contribution to the council towards your community care and support costs (for example, home care) until at least one week after your financial assessment has been completed.

This means that if there have been delays in completing the financial assessment, you will not be charged for the period that you are receiving community care and support before the financial assessment takes place. It should be noted that the council bills people for their assessed contributions on a four-week cycle in arrears. This means once you have had your Financial Assessment result, an invoice will then be raised at the next four-week cycle. Therefore, clients have the opportunity to set funds aside in advance for these invoices.

Graham Lewis, Partnership Development Manager at Healthwatch Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, said: “These concerns have been raised by the Partnership Boards and it is good to see that the Councils have heard these concerns, and the Finance Teams have looked at their processes.

“I am particularly pleased to see that people will not be charged for their community care before the financial assessment has been carried out. We know of cases where the care has been put in to place and the person told to ‘put money aside each week’ as the financial assessment won’t happen for nine weeks.”

Cost of living concerns

Independent Members of our Partnership Boards have been telling us their concerns about the cost of living, either for themselves or the person they care for.

Read more here