This is not strictly a benefits query, but I hope it is close enough for someone to respond. It appears that our local Social Services are advising people who receive substantial amounts of care at home to apply to the Independent Living Fund. Because of the way the ILF assess income (although this has changed from 1/10/07) the contribution the user has to pay is often substantially higher than under the LA assessment. Everyone has to pay at least 50% of HRC, even under the new process. We have anecdotal evidence of some people reducing the hours of care rather than pay the extra. Social Services are telling people that, once they have applied to the ILF, they do not have the choice of staying on LA funding.

I thought that, once an assessment had been made, the LA had a duty to provide (and fund) the care needed. Am I missing something?

The primary duty of the LA is to carry out an assessment of need. Once a need has been assessed as needing to be met then there is a duty for the LA to meet that need (i.e. to make the arrangements). It is here that the LA has wide discretion. It can provide a service in house, contract with a care agency or make direct payments. The LA then carries out a means test and the service user may pay some, all or none of the fees.

The ILF is an independent trust fund that works in partnership with LA’s. If the LA thinks that it can best meet the service user’s needs by commissioning ILF funds then that should be in the care plan (as in the original or as reviewed) drawn up by the social worker and service user jointly. If the service user hasn’t agreed to ILF funding (i.e. not signed the care plan or ILF funding is not in the care plan) then it may be arguable that the LA has no right to foist that package on him/her and that the LA must provide a care package as originally agreed.

If a service user wants to drop the hours then a fresh assessment needs to be made and a fresh care plan drawn up or the LA may be able to argue that its duty is to implement the original assessment and care plan.

Thanks for that. From what you say, I need to clarify with my client if she agreed to apply to the ILF as part of the care plan or if this was suggested after the plan was in place. My main concern is that my client is going to be worse off under the ILF and this does not seem to have been made clear to her before she applied. The message from the care manager is that they cannot be expected to advise on the assessment process of the ILF, yet they are being directed to advise people to apply. These very vulnerable people seem to be being told that they must accept ILF funding regardless of the financial consequences.