Both my mother and father receive meals on wheels. My father is 80% paralysed where he can only move the left arm and neck upwards. He has carers which hoist him into his electric chair every morning where he would sit for a maximum of 2 hours due to having previous bedsores. Recently in Oct he was reassessed for social care and support.
At the start of this year I got a call form the community centre who supplies and deliver his meals each day. The lady there told me my fathers meals were no longer being subsidized by the council and he would need to pay the full price of £4.75 per day instead of the usual £3.65. And this maybe need to be back dated from the start of November.
We get invoiced every month by the community centre and if there is a increase in price a letter is sent to us through the centre but which is written by the council Non-residential Charging team.
I called our social worker to find out what was going on, Her initial reply was that the council have stopped subsidizing meals until I pointed out it was still being advertised through the councils website and that my mother is still receives her discounted rate. She then went on to tell me the discount only applies to one person per household. I told her I knew of other elderly couples who receive two. Then she replied that because during the assessment I mentioned to her that my father has been going out around the block in his electric wheelchair, if he can do that then his is more then capable of using the microwave and making himself a snack therefore he is not eligible for the discount.I told her my father cant even get into the fridge with one hand let alone make a snack. She disagreed. I even told her that my fathers health is deteriorating he's becoming more delusional through infections. She ignored that and went on to tell me that she will talk with the community centre because she felt it was unfair that we should be made to to pay the full amount from November but just the other day my father received a invoice asking for backdated payments to make up the difference.
My father has been receiving subsidized meals for many years and this is the first time it has stopped. I feel he is being unfairly treated but I'm not sure how to go about getting it resolved. And if this has happened to my father I dread to think how many other vulnerable people are being targeted this way.
At the start of this year I got a call form the community centre who supplies and deliver his meals each day. The lady there told me my fathers meals were no longer being subsidized by the council and he would need to pay the full price of £4.75 per day instead of the usual £3.65. And this maybe need to be back dated from the start of November.
We get invoiced every month by the community centre and if there is a increase in price a letter is sent to us through the centre but which is written by the council Non-residential Charging team.
I called our social worker to find out what was going on, Her initial reply was that the council have stopped subsidizing meals until I pointed out it was still being advertised through the councils website and that my mother is still receives her discounted rate. She then went on to tell me the discount only applies to one person per household. I told her I knew of other elderly couples who receive two. Then she replied that because during the assessment I mentioned to her that my father has been going out around the block in his electric wheelchair, if he can do that then his is more then capable of using the microwave and making himself a snack therefore he is not eligible for the discount.I told her my father cant even get into the fridge with one hand let alone make a snack. She disagreed. I even told her that my fathers health is deteriorating he's becoming more delusional through infections. She ignored that and went on to tell me that she will talk with the community centre because she felt it was unfair that we should be made to to pay the full amount from November but just the other day my father received a invoice asking for backdated payments to make up the difference.
My father has been receiving subsidized meals for many years and this is the first time it has stopped. I feel he is being unfairly treated but I'm not sure how to go about getting it resolved. And if this has happened to my father I dread to think how many other vulnerable people are being targeted this way.