It shouldn't all come down to money

 

One of the most frustrating things I have found so far about being a Social Worker is when you can see that someone has been let down and there is nothing you can do about it. I have been allocated a couple of cases recently where it feels like people have been left to slip through the cracks one way or another then by the time we get involved there have been sometimes months of worry and unnecessary stress that could have been alleviated if we had been allowed to be involved sooner.

A lot of people who have never had the need for a Social Worker do not understand how the system works which makes sense but when they reach out for support that is what they should get and not feel like they have been fobbed off for one reason or another.

The one that frustrates me the most is when they have a good amount of money in the bank which makes them a self-funder. In this instance they can make decisions about what they would like to do or where they would like to be without needing involvement from Social Workers. The difficulty is that if the family do not understand the process they are expected to make decisions without all the facts. They don't know about third party top ups which are when someone is in full time care and their money drops below the threshold. If they receive funding from their local authority then any extra costs must be covered by the family (at least that's how it works in my area). This means that families with the best intentions organise care in somewhere that is nicer and costs more because they want the best for their loved one not realising that further down the line they may need to move because it is not an affordable option. No awareness that person cannot pay the extra once that occurs because the majority of their income goes towards their care and they cannot pay the extra on top from savings because once their savings run out you would be in the same situation.

I had a discussion yesterday about how in this country you end up better off if you end up needing care if you rent and have no savings. This is unfortunately true. If you own a home and have plenty in savings you can afford to cover the cost of your care and would be expected to sell your home to fund that (with certain situations where this does not occur). Whereas on the other end of the spectrum you would get support for your care but people don't realise this is how it works. I only know because it's my job to know.

The costs of some care homes are extortionate and even if you sold a property the money would still not last as long as you would like. I have seen care homes in my area charging almost double what the local authority would contribute towards which is insane. Especially when family are expected to cover it. I don't know about you but I couldn't afford to spend hundreds on pounds a week on care for someone I love because I wouldn't be able to cover my own bills.

The tricky thing is I can see where the costs add up. Not necessarily to that level but to the basic level. Care homes have the same bills as normal homes plus the costs for staff to care for people and if they have nurses on site to support those with higher needs that more costs on top.

It is really hard to see decisions about someone's care being made based on money. We work to a person-centred approach and when working with families I totally understand them wanting their loved one to spend the end of their life somewhere nice because they have worked hard but not being able to afford it because the majority of it needs to be paid for by the family who are still working themselves a lot of the time and have their own bills to cover or depending on age they are retired and living on their own pension. Worrying about their own experience when they get to that stage because they are now aware of how the system works.

People presume that adult social workers put people in care much like it is assumed that children's social workers take kids away. That is just not what we do and when someone does require care we go through a panel process to get the funding where we have to justify why this person needs care. It is definitely not just handed out. The only time someone is in care when they don't need to be there is when families are not given enough support to make decisions because there is money in the bank. This to me is shocking as everyone is entitled to an assessment regardless of finances so why do people get pushed away as soon as they mention having money. It is ridiculous and causes more issues down the line for the person that ends up supporting them a few months too late.