carers falsifying records

[Judith_21061]

Has anybody experienced carers that are in and out for around 10-15 minutes when they should be providing care for an hour. Because Mum has 2 carers at a time,, 4 times during the day and once during the night,as well as 2 days at daycare, she is well over the council's budget. I've been recording the actual times they've been here and the recorded times and let the social worker know.
The reason it matters is because there is no funding in the budget for me to even leave the house except when Mum is at daycare, as she cannot be left alone. I'm housebound 5 days a week. On my jailbreak days I have to do all the week's food shopping on one day and see to my own appointments on the other

I'm at breaking point and the social worker has made several referrals for me. I'm now expected to attend various mental health sessions in different places all on the same day which is impossible. If they are on different days, it's also imposiible as I can't leave the house.
Money needs to be saved somewhere to free up some funding for a 3rd daycare so that I can attend to my own mental health needs. We have no family whatsoever in the UK and neither of us has any friends or anybody at all who can help. Mum was traumatised whilst in hospital and now screams whenever any carer goes near. Respite care didn't work as they couldn't cope with Mum keeping everybody awake at night. The bosses themselves brought her home as fast as they could. Mum is terrified of care homes and I will not allow her to go into any of those hell holes. She wants to stay with me and feel safe.

Has anybody had experience of carers falsifying their attendance time records so that the company gets more council money. Has anybody has any success in challenging it and can the social worker do anything. Mum's social worker asked me to keep on recording the actula times and not to contact the company myself.

[bowlingbun]

Buy a Ring door bell. I was talking to a policewoman today who told me how wonderful they are.
Google NHS Continuing Healthcare.
Ask Social Services for a 2014 Advocate.
Would you like to give up caring altogether? You sound utterly exhausted?

[Judith_21061]

I will never give up on my mother, no matter what. She has always been there for me and I am there for her now. Many many years ago, she made me promise never to put her into a home. I will honour that promise to the end of her days. I care for my mother with total love and devotion, no matter what the toll on me.
It does make me worry what lies ahead for me though. This is an eye opener for me. There will be nobody around to care for me in years to come. I don't want to end up in a home either so if that was to look likely, I'd rather do myself in first

[Charles_2112]

Hi Judith

Quick response to your question: falsifying records is far more common than you might think, although not perhaps always as bad as your example.

Do you have a Carers Assessment looking at your needs? It sounds as though there isn't one, and you need it to look at how to support you to get to your appointments, for example. Social services have a duty of care for you too. They should also look at what happens in an emergency situation where you're not able to care for your Mum. That's a very real possibility, and you need to think about that. Because under those circumstances, all options have to be considered, like it or not.

Sounds as if the social worker is gathering evidence from you to take to the agency. If they go to the agency too soon, the agency can blame it on individual workers, promise to sort it, possibly sack a worker or two, and weasel out of it. But if the evidence from you shows that it's all of the staff, then the social worker can use the evidence to boot out the agency and find a better one.

I was going to talk about my views on promises about care. I'll just say that you're already at your limit, and if your Mum's needs increase it could easily be a race to see who gets buried first. I've seen it too many times during my time working in the field and as a very long term carer myself. I understand this is hard for you, but I feel it had to be said.

[bowlingbun]

Please read up on NHS Continuing Healthcare. It's entirely FREE, but something of a postcode lottery.

If someone qualifies, then CHC pays for the costs of all residential care OR PROVIDING CARERS AT HOME.
If mum has high care needs, this sort of support would enable you to have time off to sleep and do essential things.

I found my late husband dead in bed, when he was 58, he'd had a massive heart attack. We had been juggling the needs of both sets of parents, our disabled son, and running a business. None of us are invincible.
I'd suggest that you stopped trying to be Superwoman and started yelling for HELP!!


if the social worker is useless, complain about her via the LA online form. Then it goes direct to HQ, not the incompetent local office.

[Anthony _2109]

As a newly retired police officer......yep, Bowlingbun is 100% right

. Those Ring doorbells (other makes are available!) really do sort out a multitude of sins. If the comings/goings from your place is something you need to measure, they're impossible to beat on a normal budget.

Believe me, if you want to evidence something in any kind of dispute the footage this can provide is invaluable. When faced with it, people will back down, I'd say 95% of the time.

[Alisha_2201]

I am in the same situation. My father who has Parkinson's and Dementia is receiving a double handed package of care from Social Services. He receives 1 morning session of 45 mins and 30 mins slots at 1pm, 5pm and 7pm. The carers only do his personal care. I am pretty much housebound 7 days a week because my father cannot be left alone. My mum is independent but has health issues so I have had to take on my father's care. I have a toddler so caring for my dad in addition is pretty tough.

My father has been receiving care since January 2022. The carers show up when they feel like it and only say for 20 mins in the morning and about 5 mins in the 30 min slots. I have kept a log of when carers turn up. Carers are supposed to log in via a QR code on their carer folder but I don't believe
they do. Often, only one carer turns up at the afternoon and evening slots. I have complained but the agency and carers have lied repeatedly that they will charge.

My father will soon have financial assessment and he has been told by social services say he will have to pay fully for his care due to having savings over £23,000. He wasn't made aware that he would have to pay until a couple of weeks ago. He assumed his care would be covered by the continuing care He received absolutely no information about cost prior or shortly after his care package started. I can't believe that they didn't email me or write a letter informing him of what to expect.

My father really objects to having to pay for double care when he only receives one carer and also cannot accept paying for care that lasts 5 mins. I think care agencies are fully aware of what their carers are doing. I have recently installed a Ring door bell to provide evidence and i highly recommended it.

[bowlingbun]

Charges cannot be made by Social Services until AFTER a full financial assessment.
After discharge from hospital, SS can only charge after there has been an NHS Continuing Healthcare Assessment.
Social workers are often ignorant of these rules.
Do not believe anything an ordinary social worker tells you about finances without checking they have told you the truth.
In my mum's case, they didn't apply the rules properly and I reclaimed £8,000 of charges.
The senior manager I saw was horrible, every time I said something she interrupted.
After she did this 4 times in a row I went to pick up my handbag and leave, telling her that if she wasn't interested in hearing what I had to say, I would leave. She was stunned. Then claimed I had signed a form and left the room to find it. I knew I hadn't. I've had years of legal training.
Finally, the officer who stayed in the room with me told me they had to refund the money, because they hadn't followed the rules and the Ombudsman would tell them to pay if I took it further.
However, it should not be necessary for any relative to have my level of training to get them to follow the rules properly.
They should be applied fairly to everyone.

[Alisha_2201]

@Bowling Bun. How do you know if there has been a NHS Continuing Health Care Assessment? My father has a new social worker who sent me the financial assessment form two weeks ago. My father has refused to sign the consent form that she attached in her email.

I would like to find my father private carers. I noticed from his Discharge to Assess form which is in his care folder , his care cost almost £700 a week. He would have to pay for the full cost of his care as he is over the £23k threshold.

[bowlingbun]

If you weren't involved, and dad doesn't have a copy of the "checklist assessment" it wasn't done properly.
Have a look at the CHC Framework, Google should find it for you.

Does dad have an agreed copy of any Social Services Needs Assessment?

I would suggest that your dad wrote to Social Services, making a "Subject Access Request" for a copy of everything they have on file from a particular date onwards. He can do this online, or you can do it for him, with his agreement. The MUST comply within about 28 days. (See the Information Commissioner" for more details).

If the care agency are not providing the required care at the required level, but charging for it, that is fraudulent.