Solihull Councill Withold 16K Savings While Patient Uses Cash Generators

Social Services Withhold £16K Savings As Patient Uses Cash Generators For Basics

As usual social services live down to the usual poor standard of care we have seen so often for many people on many occasions.

This is just a prequel to a series of articles that will be published here and on my other social media starting from next week.

What’s it about and why?

The brief outline is that the patient who is a grown woman in her mid fifties has had a voluntary arrangement with Solihull adult social services since 2015 for them to act as financial appointees.

I.e they would receive her benefit payments, pay her utilities etc and also give her a fixed weekly payment to cover shopping and other expenses.

She is profoundly deaf, Bipolar and whilst she possesses all her faculties depression leaves her isolated and in her own world much of the time.

 

The final Straw

In November 2021 she requested the sum of £400 from her savings to buy Christmas presents and do all the usual stuff for the time of year.

In early December the response was that she could only have £300 as there were insufficient funds available. This was paid to her in mid December.

After the initial sadness of having to remove some presents from her shopping basket we move forwards into January of this year.

Now it gets interesting.

Less than 4 weeks after her request being reduced by 25% due to lack of funds it was a surprise to receive a letter from DWP telling her that her benefits claim had been closed due to her savings being in excess of the £16’000 cut-off point.

In fact the finance department at Solihull council had neglected to inform DWP when the threshold was reached and her total savings reached over £25’000 meaning she has in fact been overpaid by more than £9’000 through no fault of her own.

Why this matters

Over the last 6 years she has made several requests For one off payments to cover emergency situations.

2 of the worst examples are waiting 8 weeks for her own money to replace a broken cooker and more importantly for a deaf person having to wait 12 weeks to replace her broken computer which is her only means of communication with the outside world.

She also requested payments to replace furniture, visit her daughter in Scotland to re establish contact and a few other events which were all refused. On several occasions she has placed her phone and laptop in cash generators to raise the money when it was required.

Obviously this amount of savings has not simply accrued overnight and it would seem at least some funding was available throughout the entire time.

Since February this year she has been requesting access to some of her savings but the only response from Solihull adult social services finance department has been total ignorance.

They continue to compound their abuse of their patient who is more confused and concerned than ever and feels she is being punished in some way.

I have been speaking almost daily to the social work team who handle her case. They have also sent several emails requesting finance to call me back to discuss the matter.

Unfortunately it is impossible to call them directly. You have to explain the situation to a receptionist who then emails them a request.

As of today's date we are still awaiting a single phone call to even begin explaining the situation or the delay.

She has requested the funds both by telephone, email and recorded delivery letter on 2 separate occasions since March but it seems as though no one will step up and take responsibility for this.

 

So What Next ???

The good news is we have saved all the cash generator receipts, have copies of all the emails and recordings of all phone calls made and received since this matter came to light.

We are currently waiting for some information from DWP before setting a decent solicitor loose on them for all the financial and emotional distress this has caused both their client and myself too.

Why me too? Simple… I am the one who paid to replace her cooker when it became obvious it was going to take weeks. I am the one who replaced her computer, monitor, printer etc when she was left isolated, I am the one who up to this month has so far purchased 4 mobile phones whilst once again she is waiting to receive her own money from people who are too damn ignorant to admit their mistake and pick up the phone.

Most of all I am the one who is fed up to bursting with watching my flatmate and friend of 30 years sit there confused and in tears once again as Solihull adult social services fail to deliver any care whatsoever.

Please remember she is not asking for a loan or a grant. She simply wants access to some of her own funds to alleviate the very bad position she has been left in.

If the ignorance continues the next move will be to attend Solihull council house with my Facebook friends and some air-horns and see if we can get someone's attention that way.

Their behaviour and neglect towards their patient is not acceptable and their ignorance will cost them dearly.

We have had an initial consultation with CAB but if you are a bona fide solicitor and have any thoughts on how you could help us take this matter forwards please drop a phone number in the comments box and I will call back.

 

Thanks for the visit today.