Community care

The first stage in identifying whether any services are required to meet a person’s needs is  for the appropriate authority to carry out an assessment. This will establish what the needs are, what needs to be done to meet those needs and how that can be done. This will then result in the preparation of a care plan.

We can assist you in ensuring that the appropriate statutory service is approached with an assessment request and that the process is as smooth as possible.

Once the assessment has been completed the next stage is for a Care Plan to be produced. This will identify what your needs are, what will be done by the Authority to meet those needs and how that can be done. It should also include a section explaining the needs that they cannot meet and why.

You may also be asked to engage in a financial assessment at this time to determine if you should pay for some or all of your care.

Adults with complex health needs may be eligible for continuing healthcare. This is where the NHS pays for all of the costs of caring for the adults health-related needs.

The first stage in obtaining this funding is by requesting an assessment. A Multi-Disciplinary team will be allocated to complete a Decision Support Tool (DST). The team will be made up of professionals from both the health and social care fields. They will use their clinical skill; expertise and evidence-based professional judgement to consider what needs you have in the specialist domains.

They will be assessing whether there is a duty, not the package of care they believe you will need. There are different levels of need in the domains and once the score has been obtained they will be considered alongside the nature, unpredictability, intensity and complexity of the needs to reach an agreed recommendation for funding. This will then be put to the funding body for approval.

We can help you prepare for this process.

Children with disabilities are legally defined as “children in need” under the Children Act 1989. This means that all local authorities have a responsibility to safeguard and promote their wellbeing. In meeting this duty they are required to promote the upbringing of children by their families by providing a range of services to meet those children’s needs.

The first stage in identifying whether any services are required to meet a child’s needs is a child in need assessment. This will establish what the child’s needs are, what needs to be done to meet those needs and how that can be done. This will then result in the preparation of a child in need plan.

Parents with children in need also have a right to a carers assessment. This may identify whether they are entitled to receive assistance such as practical support, equipment and respite.

The assessment process can be daunting and confusing. Parents are often concerned that the correct procedure was not followed and therefore conclusions are reached that are not lawful.

We have a great deal of experience in advising parents through the assessment process and challenging outcomes which are unjust.

A Judicial review is a process by which the courts review the lawfulness of a decision made (or sometimes lack of a decision made) or action taken (or sometimes failure to act) by a public body. It is mechanism by which a judge considers whether a public body has acted in accordance with its legal obligations and if not, can declare a decision taken by it to be invalid.

Decisions by public bodies can be challenged on a number of grounds. If:-

• It has acted in a manner which is in breach of the law;
• It has acted unreasonably; or
• It has breached the human rights of the person involved.

NHS funding should be free at the point of delivery. We can advise you if you are being charged for services that should be free.

Local Authorities’ have a duty to charge for the services they provide to those with savings over £23,250. Those with less money may have to pay a contribution towards the cost of their care.

Often the charges are unaffordable because local authorities have not taken all of the circumstances into account.

There are certain assets that local authorities cannot take into consideration in the financial assessment for social care in certain circumstances such as the home, personal injury trusts, certain types of investment bonds with life assurance elements, etc.

We can investigate the relevant legislation and advise you on whether the charging provisions have been lawfully applied.

The evolving law on double recovery is strict and makes it harder to obtain state funded care where there has been a personal injury award to include the costs of a care package.
However, in cases where the claimant recovers less than 100% of the full value of their claim or the cost of care is greater than the award they may need to seek assistance from the local authority. Advice from a specialist solicitor should be obtained.

Your first contact with us will be a free telephone conversation. During this conversation we will discuss your options, what you can do yourself, whether you really need further advice and possible costs.

If you need further advice we can offer an initial meeting to discuss your case in more detail. The initial meeting is normally between 1 and 1 ½ hours. Once you have had a chance to consider all available options, you can then decide to instruct us to do as little, or as much, as you want.

As we only do what you want us to, the cost of your matter is entirely in your control. We are happy to discuss your budget and what we can do to help you within that budget.

We make sure that your costs stay under control.

If you decide to instruct us, we will normally ask for up to £2,000 on account. We place this in your ‘client account’ and we only use it when we raise an invoice for work we have done. Every month, we will send you an invoice detailing the work completed, the cost of that work, and the balance left in your client account. If appropriate, we will also suggest further payment into client account for future work.

We understand that costs are one of the biggest concerns when approaching a solicitor. We do as much as possible to help you achieve your desired outcome within your budget.