LAW AND BENEFIT REVIEW

Welcome back to the Law and Benefit monthly Review. Our sincere apologise for no October or November 2007 Reviews, but our editor has been extremely ill for over fifteen weeks, as he writes, suffering from an un-diagnosed food virus caught after eating two mouthfuls of an Indian chicken meal at a restaurant in Bristol. Two hospital stays plus when in the offing, blood tests, medication and other tests which are still going on, but thankfully he is just beginning to feel slightly better but there is someway to go.

It is a bit of a gloomy return to our endeavours as you will see, with many articles which will have adverse effects on many thousands of disabled and elderly people in the coming months, everything seems to be against us at this time of year - what’s new? - when we should all be looking forward to a Happy Christmas. Whilst our editor has been out of action, what follows has been collected from our data bases and kept, so we have decided to get them all out the way at once so at least you will know what’s ahead in 2008 and beyond.

1: BRITONS HAVE THE WORSE STATE PENSION IN THE EU: A study has showed that millions of Britain’s are condemned to poverty in their old age by the worse state pension in the EU. The basis state pension of £87.30 a week is equivalent to just 17% of the national average wage and this figure increases to 30% when once pension payments related to earnings are taken into account. That means that none private pension holders have the worse end of the stick. We in the United Kingdom lay thirteenth from the top in a recent survey, with the top position being held by Greece, whose pensioners receive 95.7% of their state pension proportion of their average working pay.

The situation is made worse due to UK state pensions failing repeatedly to keep in line with increases in the cost of essentials such as heating, food, petrol and diesel and council tax. Just about every well known EU country, including Estonia’s pensioners at 32.9% do better than UK pensioners. Spain at 81.2%, France at 51.2% and Italy at 67.9% of their individual national average wage.

2: EVERYTHING GOING UP: One of the most essential daily requirements for disabled people and many elderly folks is the use of their cars, but motorists are being hit by their biggest bills for seven years. The price of filling up now is often over a £1 per litre almost everywhere, cost of car insurance and vehicle excise tax has increased by 6.1 per cent and the maintenance of cars has surged by 3.5 per cent. It says something for Motability cars for those lucky enough to have them, no maintenance, no vehicle excise tax or insurance to pay for, so good for them and Motability, which is something that the government has got right for disabled people.

The Retail Price Index has gone up from 3.9 per cent to 4.2 per cent. Basic food prices has jumped 6% which is the biggest rise for 14 years. Items such as milk, up 11%, eggs up 25%, bread and cheese up 7%, wheat and vegetables have risen by at least 10 per cent whilst some others goods have increase is 14 per cent. The Consumers Price Index has risen 1% above the Bank of England target of 2%, but the Government, through the Chief Secretary of the Treasury, Philip Hammond said on November 14 2007, and I quote, “ we are experiencing the best UK inflation performance for a century”. Are these people living on the same planet as the rest of us?

3. BUG HOSPITAL AVOIDS PROSECUTION: A hospital at Stoke Mandeville in Berkshire was at the centre of a C/difficile outbreak which caused 33 deaths with not face criminal prosecution. What kind of example does this show? The Health and Safety Executive [HSE] ruled that there was not enough admissible evidence to prosecute. Aren't 33 deaths enough?, apparently not. The HSE said that they found “serious failings” and the hospital “failed to follow the advice on stopping the spread of infections”.

Other case’s of C/difficile outbreaks are Aylesbury hospital also in Berkshire, where 334 patients were infected in two outbreaks between October 2003 and June 2005, and the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust outbreak killed 90 people. Of course there is hardly a NHS hospital in the UK that has not suffered from MRSA or C/difficile.

4: DOUBLE-WHAMMY RUBBISH TAXES: We have all read unfortunately about local authorities charging or about the charge for the removal of some house-hold rubbish from community charge payers homes to the tune of around £30.00 -£35.00 per annum, but there appears to be some good news for single parents, low income families and special benefit rules which will apply, but as yet these are yet to be fully defined. We can only assume that if any disabled or elderly person is in receipt of certain benefits, they may be exempt from any house-hold rubbish extra charge because already they should not be paying the full community charge because of their age or disability or if they are a single occupant in a property. Your Community Charge bill sent out around March/April each year indicates somewhere community charge payers of this reductions. Apartment residents should not have to pay any extra charges, as it would be impractical to collect them. We cannot under this statement but this is what we are being informed. As we know, many elderly and disabled people occupy apartments rented from Housing Associations, landlords or in some cases local authorities, so this would be good news for them if true. Our advice is to check with your landlord if suddenly the rent is increased due to house hold rubbish collections charges.

We can only suggest that disabled and elderly people should contact their local authority and ask if they qualify for any reduction or exemption from the extra charge Some local authorities have already sent out information to their Community Charge payers explaining the charges, but some have not really made the case clear for elderly and disabled people in receipt of state benefits.

5: 2.5m PENSIONERS BATTLE TO STAY WARM: A new survey by Help the Aged revealed that a fifth of over-60’s spent their winter months living in a single room because they cannot afford to keep their whole home warm. This means 2.5 older people limit their heating costs in this way and even then, 1m older people have to cut back on food to enable them to pay their heating bills. The complexity of many state benefits such as pension credit, makes it hard or difficult for elderly people to claim the cash, compounding their poverty.

If you can, you must claim what is due to you. £4.5 billion, yes billion worth of pension credit, housing benefit and council tax benefit go unclaimed as we have said before. If you qualify, the please claim what you are entitled to. Need help?, then go to your Citizens Advice Bureau whose location may be found in local telephone lists. Other local agencies that can help may be found by contacting your local authority or contact your Works and Pensions office.

There are now 11.4m pensioners in Britain with £2.5 m trying to keep warm. Many go to libraries, ‘pop ins’, coffee shops or sit in shopping malls to try and keep warm and save money in heating their homes. Many wear outdoor clothing in doors during cold period and keep it on in bed. Is this how people should live in 2007 in one of the worlds riches nations?

The Government is not doing nearly enough to end fuel poverty. The annual Xmas Winter Fuel payment has remained at £200 for years with those over 80 receiving £300, whilst both gas and electricity charges have rocketed and are taking ages to come down. Incidentally, the Winter Fuel Payments have been paid out since early November so you should have received yours by now if you qualify for the benefit, if not, chase it up with Works and Pensions. People are losing their lives to preventable cold-related illnesses, all perhaps they cannot afford to keep warm.

As we are now in the winter season again, and with many of us already having received -6C temperatures at night in rural areas, we must all take every care to wear the appropriate clothing when we go outside even if it is to empty rubbish into a dustbin. Travelling between a warm house into a cold garden and back again without adequate clothing is an easy way to catch a chill, cold or even flu so please put a jacket and a warm hat on. Wear what you have to in doors to maintain body heat. Drink hot drinks of all kinds, tea, coffee, hot chocolate, hot milk, or hot soup which will warm you up from the inside. Eat hot food as much as you can and at night before going to bed drink a hot drink, chocolate or night time drinks would be great. If cold at night, get up and make a hot drink and then have a hot breakfast in the morning.

We at ‘Disability Matters’ write regularly to the Prime Minister asking for increases in the Winter Fuel Payment which so far as gone un-heeded but we will keep writing.

6: EQUITY RELEASE SCHEMES [ERS]: In articles 2 to 4 above, it is clear that many elderly/disabled people may well run out of funding with all their savings gone in an attempt to pay bills, purchase food, keep warm, run cars, pay council tax, etc. and they may well be tempted by a ERS. The TV is currently full of adverts offering ‘simple’ and ‘tempting’ advice such as expensive holidays and new cars to people who would like extra money, but it is not so simple as the adverts make it look.

Many homeowners who are desperate for cash are falling victims to unregulated firms offering to buy their property and then rent it back again but please beware. These firms offer to free up money that is locked in their homes so that retired folks can take holidays, purchase new cars, see relatives on the other side of the world, etc. Nothing about, keeping warm, paying food bills, council tax, etc. which are more than likely the reason why the ERS was entered into in the first place.

Unlike ‘Equality Release Schemes’, firms that are unregulated. If your new landlord does not keep up with his/her mortgage payments or a business or companies operating the unregulated ERS files for bankruptcy or receivership, your former home which you now rent as a tenant, could be repossessed. Remember, you once owned this your home, having struggled all your life to purchase it. Short-term rental agreements of six months give no guarantee that you could stay in your former home for the rest of your life. After 4 or 5 months, the landlord could give you Notice to Quit and you have lost everything, you could be homeless and the rent may well increase year by year.

Elderly and vulnerable people desperate for money are being targeted by these unregulated firms and apparently County Courts have long lists of repossession cases awaiting hearing. Desperate homeless elderly people are turning to Citizens Advice Bureau’s and other Voluntary Groups when it is far to late to save the situation.

As we always advise before even contemplation selling your home for any reason and particularly before contemplating entering into any ‘Equality Release Scheme‘, seek advice from a qualified solicitor. Obtain full information about the Schemes from several regulated firms, companies and business offering this service, but even then look very very carefully at the print, especially the small print to see what actually they are offering you. This is where solicitors should earn their money to advise you. We have seen paperwork obtained from one of the advertises on TV from a properly regulated Equality Release Scheme, and we found it shocking and totally unacceptable.

There is an alternative scheme called ‘House Purchase Scheme’ where the operators purchase the house, allegedly at the full market price, which they will rent it back to you on a long term basis through some form of tenancy agreement. The problem is that at the time of signing the tenancy agreement drawn up by the Schemes solicitors and paid for by them, only 70% of the alleged market price is paid back to the former owner as the operators of the scheme expect you to remain in the property for ten years with the balance of the house price being paid then or at the end of eleven years. Even at the end of the ten year period at the scheme we looked at, the operators required one years notice to quit the tenancy so in reality you are signing up for a eleven year tenancy and will not receive the balance owing until then.

There is also other questions which are of concern. How much will the monthly rent payable be? It must be relative to properties of a similar type and stature as yours and to ascertain a reasonable rent for your property, a private renting agency normally to be found as part of some estate agents services, will advice you prior to entering into either of the schemes referred to in this article. There is also the office of the ‘Rent Officer’ who are used by local authorities to assess rents for Housing Benefit. They too will normally assess a ‘private rent’ to see if it fair and provide a report. A charge will be made for their services. You will also have to decide if the property is to be rented furnished or un-furnished as this also affects the rent payable. If one is living in the property it is more than likely that you will elect to have a ‘furnished rent’ which will be greater than an ‘unfurnished rent‘. You may well find that the ‘rent’ is greater than the mortgage you were paying but at least with a mortgage the property remains yours and hopefully will increases in value to your advantage and not to the advantage of the schemes operators if you rent it. Unless you are in desperate financial trouble you would be ill advised to go down either of these paths.

Finally, if you did decide to sell and rent having signed a long term tenancy agreement which is a lawful contract, what happens if you fall permanently ill or are in need of care or nursing and have to move permanently into a care/nursing home? What happens if you die? Are there high penalties to pay for instance? Will the balance of the market price that is owing be forfeited?

As we repeatedly advice, consult a qualified experienced solicitor in such matters as these schemes are relatively new in the current forms.

We do not hesitate to say, we have only looked at two operators, one from each type of scheme and found what has been reported. Hopefully these two schemes picked at random are hopefully not the ‘norm’ and we feel sure that they are not.

7: BUG HOSPITAL AVOIDS PROSECUTION: A hospital at Stoke Mandeville in Berkshire was at the centre of a C/difficile outbreak which caused 33 deaths with not face criminal prosecution. What kind of example does this show? The Health and Safety Executive [HSE] ruled that there was not enough admissible evidence to prosecute. Aren't 33 deaths enough?, apparently not. The HSE said that they found “serious failings” and the hospital “failed to follow the advice on stopping the spread of infections”.

Other case’s of C/difficile outbreaks are Aylesbury hospital also in Berkshire, where 334 patients were infected in two outbreaks between October 2003 and June 2005, and the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust outbreak killed 90 people. Of course there is hardly a NHS hospital in the UK that has not suffered from MRSA or C/difficile.

8: UP TO 40P A MINUTE: That what it could cost for patients at 1500 doctors practices to telephone their doctors surgery from a mobile or 5p a minute using a land line which is . More than 1500 of the 8000 practices in England or 1 in 5 with 1 million patients between them, have floated government guide lines by switching to expensive 0844 numbers.

GPs’ who have adopted a 0844 number, can keep part of the charge patients pay to BT or their chosen telephone company, when those patients call to fix an appointment, cancel an appointment or ask for a blood test result. MPs’, campaigners and the Department of Health have demanded that GPs’ who use 0844 numbers stop this practice and return to local-rate numbers.

Up to 2005, many GP’s used 0870 numbers which are even more expensive now some have moved to the 0844 number. Last year guidance was given to GPs’ that they should charge only 3.25p per minute for incoming calls to surgeries. These extra charges may be small as a ‘one-off’ charge, but disabled, sick, ill and elderly people call their doctors surgeries often and for various reasons, and are now running up extra charges on their telephone bills making an additional drain on meagre state benefits and pensions?

Family doctors are private operations and believe it or believe it not, the NHS cannot force them to change their unacceptable charging for incoming telephone calls. Some doctors use 03 numbers which charge the same rate as a normal local call. If your doctors are using these 0844 or 0870 numbers, complain about it and ask them to stop it. Some offices of the NHS are also using these expensive codes, complain to them as well.

9: NEW POWER OF ATTORNEY RULES: New rules governing how the elderly and disabled can appoint relatives, trusted friends or solicitors to run their financial affairs and look after them came into force in England and Wales as from October 1 2007. This might be as simple as signing a cheque on your behalf or making investments decisions once you can no longer do them. These changes are expected to push up the cost dramatically of setting up a Power of Attorney with particularly solicitors. Currently the most popular option is an Enduring Power of Attorney [EPA], set up when you are in good mental health, which allows your chosen attorneys to take charge if necessary.

From October 1 2007 the EPA will be replaced by a Lasting Power of Attorney [LPA] - although EPA’s already up and running will carry on without change. Under the new rules there will be two types of Power of Attorney:

[a] A property and affairs LPA which like the outgoing EPA allows you to hand over decisions about your money

[b] A personal welfare LPA appointing someone to make decisions about your health and welfare if you are unable to do it yourself.

You can set up one or both, and if you have an EPA covering your financial affairs you can also set up a personal welfare LPA. The main difference between the financial EPA and the LPA, is that the LPA must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before it can be used. An EPA can be used with the donors consent without registering it, until the person becomes incapable of running their own affairs. It is estimated that the cost of an LPA will cost £50 against £120 for an EPA. Solicitors employed as a Power of Attorney will increase their charges dramatically. The LPA will stretch to over twenty pages and is more complicated to deal with than the four page EPA. The cost is expected to be between £500 and £600 against £75 for an EPA.

It must be remembered that you have total trust in the person you appoint as your Power of Attorney, and our advice is, as always, see a qualified solicitor before doing anything. You can appoint more than one Power of Attorney, but this means that all those appointed must agree totally with every decision they may take on your behalf concerning money. Alternately, you can set up ’jointly and severally’ version which means they, those appointed, can take decisions separately as well as together.

In Scotland the rules are different and remain basically unchanged as it already has both a financial and welfare system. From October 5, a Power of Attorney must contain a statement outlining how the ‘granter’ [the person giving the Power of Attorney in Scotland] wishes to be determined as incapable.

Power of Attorneys dated prior October 5 2007, even if registered after this date are unaffected.

A booklet on Enduring Power of Attorneys [EPA] may be downloaded from the Public Guardianship Office at www.guardianship.gov.uk or call 0845-330-2900 or for Scotland log onto www.publicguardian-scotland.gov.uk or telephone 01324-678-300 or Solicitors for the Elderly on 0870-067-0282. calls cost 40p per minutes.

10: CLASS THREE INVALID CARRIAGES: We all know these as powered scooters now, but legislation will insists in calling them ‘invalid carriages’ even in the latest revised edition of the UK Highway Code. We recently wrote a long article concerning the new classification of powered scooters and wheelchairs, and the new rules apply to all Classes 1, 2 and 3 of scooters and wheelchairs. The Class 3 vehicles are those with an upper speed limit of 8 mph [12 kmh] and are equipped to be used on the road as well as the pavement.

It is eight years since the highway code was updated and contain both new and updated rules. The code is 50% bigger than previous issues with 29 extra rules which includes are totally new section for people who use powered wheelchairs or mobility scooters. The new rules for wheelchairs and scooters or ‘invalid carriages’ are contained in sections 36 to 46 and are far to long to quote here, so therefore we suggest that you either purchase a copy of the new code which only costs £2.50 from a large book shop chain such as W H Smith or go on line at www.tsoshop.co.uk/highwaycode. For a free download of the whole of the new highway code or just the reverent sections [36 to 46] log onto www.direct.gov.uk/highwaycode or call 0870-600-5522.

The new rules, advice and instructions are well worth reading not only to ensure that you are obeying the new Highway Code but also just as importantly, your personal and that of others. Failing to comply with any of the 36 to 46 regulations could, if you were involved in an accident, both personal injury or damage, go against you in any claim, so may we suggest you are well advised to make yourself fully conversant with the new controls.

Finally, if you own and use a Class 3 powered scooter or wheelchair and use it on a public road, you must register it with the DVLA as a ‘vehicle’. These new mandatory rules have been full explained in a previous edition of the Law and Benefit Review, and to not register the vehicle is a police and DVLA offence. Once registered, the NIL rated and free vehicle excise licence must be displayed on the scooter or wheelchair somewhere visable. Again, if you are involved in any accident and the vehicle has not been registered, you will have committed an offence. [Office file]

11: BENEFITS UPDATE:

[1] A very important financial change that has been announced is that as from October 1 2007, people living in nursing homes receiving different bands of NHS funded care contribution will find differences in their funding. Currently the low rate is £40 per week, middle rate £87 per week and the high rate of £139 per week. These rates will increase at a flat rate of £101 per week across the board. These increases in England will bring payments in line with Wales and Northern Ireland which also pays ‘flat rates’ but more than England at £114.90 and £100 per week respectively. In Scotland, a personal care contribution of £145 is paid and a nursing contribution of £65 per week. Why does the English government not pay these amounts that the Scots receive to English qualifying people? A elderly or disabled person who qualifies for these payments must meet the same or very similar guidelines, so why the difference in payments. You don’t seem to hear from Scotland that their local authorities are forcing people to sell their homes to pay for their care. Some people receive £139 per week in England and may continue to receive this amount until their case is reviewed.

[2] If your house was built before 1981 its is likely that the insulation levels in the roof and walls are not up to current building regulation standards. The Government has launched another initiative aimed at helping qualifying householders to have their homes insulated.

You can arrange a free inspection by ringing by ringing 0800-093-4050. If you are receiving a means-tested benefit, disability living allowance or attendance allowance, the insulation could be provided for free of charge otherwise a contribution may have to be made. You can find out more by logging onto www.heatproject.uknetweb.com

12: INCREASES IN ANNUAL LEAVE ENTITLEMENT: People in receipt of Independent Living Funding and Adult Community Services funding to pay for their assessed care at home and who employ Personal Assistants or Carers should have already been contacted concerning the new annual leave entitlements for all employees by the agencies who partly prepare their monthly pay sheets to enable Personal Assistants and Carers to be paid their salaries.

From October 1 2007, the Government have announced that the minimum current statutory annual holiday entitlement of 20 days [including bank holidays] will be increased to 28 days [including bank holidays] for all employees. Initially, the increase will be 20 to 24 days as from October 1 2007, and the second part of the increase was due to take effect from October 1 2008, but this has been delayed to April 1 2009. This will finally increase the annual leave entitlement of an employee who works a five day week [or more in the cases of PA’s and Carers] from 24 to 28 days. This is reduced pro-rata for part-time works.

One glaring omission that has been missed so far is that there has been no news about the extra funding that will be required by those who employ Personal Assistants or Carers to pay their employees for the extra days annual leave they have been given. Current budgets have not allowed for these extra holidays, so where is the funding coming from? Elderly and disabled people in receipt of funding for their home care should contact their own Adult Community Care Service office and the Independent Living Fund urgently and ask for urgent funding as these new entitlements are due this year between October 1 2007 and April 4 2008. Personal Assistants and Carers are legally allowed to take these extra days of holiday by arrangement will their employees and will expect to be paid as normal so the onus is totally on the employers -you.

The agencies that look after the final stages of pay sheet payments - be they Adult Community Services or private agencies - for those in receipt of home care funding should be able to work out the new amount of annual leave entitlement each employee is entitled to this year as part-time employees entitlements could be difficult to work out. Some may only be entitled to 1 hour extra holiday this year!!

For more information you may log onto www.berr.gov.uk and click on ‘employment matters’. ACAS also has a helpline at 08457 47 47 47.

13: NEW MINIMAL WAGE: Again from October 1 2007, the national minimum wage for employees aged 22 increased to £5.52 per hour. For 18’s to 21’s it has increased to £4.60 per hour and for 16 and 17 year olds, it has increased to £3.40. It is a serious offence not to pay these new amounts, so those needing care and pay privately for it, should insure that they are paying all employees the legal amount. It s not un-common for part-time employees to take employers to Employment Tribunals claiming unfair practice and asking for ’damages’.

There if a help line for more details at 0845 6000 678 or look at the website www.berr.gov.uk and click on ‘employment’. Advice is available for both employees and employers.

14: NEW HATE CRIME LEGISLATION: Disabled hate crime law planned Inciting hatred against disabled people is to be outlawed under government plans outlined in the Queen's Speech.

It will be added to proposals announced last month to make it a crime to incite hatred against gay, lesbian and transgender people. Laws against religious hate crime were passed last year but were watered down amid concerns over freedom of speech. David Congdon, of Mencap, said it made sense to extend the law to cover people with disabilities. The new offence of inciting hatred against gay, lesbian, transgender and disabled persons is outlined in background papers to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill - which largely applies to England and Wales - carried over from the last Parliamentary session.

15: HAVE YOU RECEIVED YOUR WINTER FUEL PAYMENT FOR 2007?: If you were 60 or over on or before September 23 2007, then you could receive a Winter Fuel Payment of between £200 and £300 to help with heating costs. Payments have been sent out throughout November and December so look out for them. Do not worry if you have not received your payment so far.

If you have not received a payment by Christmas, but think you should have, then contact the Works and Pension office that normally pays your state payment or pension. IMPORTANT: if you need to make a claim for Winter Fuel Payment, applications must be received by March 30 2008.

The Winter Fuel helpline for all enquiries for payments is 0845 915 15 15 [ calls charged at 4p @ minute] or you can go on-line at www.direct.gov.uk/keepwarmkeepwell

May we wish all of you a Very Merry and Happy Christmas. Keep warm and well over the festive season and we will see you in 2008.

DISCLAIMER
[DECEMBER 2007]