Care charge mystery as council takes hundreds of pounds a month from disabled woman for non-existent support

A disabled woman is being charged hundreds of pounds a month by her local council for care and support services she does not receive.

City of Wolverhampton Council and Select Lifestyles, the company that provides her accommodation, have both been unable to explain why Shauline Hall has been charged for services that she says she hasn’t received for months, or even years.

The charges have left her struggling to survive financially and having to dig into her small amount of savings.

The council and care provider produced a joint statement yesterday (Wednesday), after several days of confusion and delays, which admitted that Hall was “no longer in receipt of one-to-one care”.

They said they were now “in the process of reviewing what changes can be made to her current provision in the light of information now received”.

Both Hall and her fiancé’s mother, Diane Cummins – who has been supporting her – have been seeking an explanation for several weeks for why she was being charged £400 a month for what the council calls “non-residential care”.

Cummins only discovered the charges when she got to know her son’s fiancée and began to support her with her paperwork and found documents showing the payments.

Hall’s finances had previously been controlled by the council, and Cummins said she had been “fobbed off” when she raised questions about the charges.

Cummins then helped her complain to the council and Select Lifestyles.

But both the council and Select Lifestyles dismissed their concerns, with the council insisting that she was supposed to be receiving more than 50 hours of care a week.

But neither the council nor Select Lifestyles had been willing to discuss why she was being charged for services she did not receive until Disability News Service (DNS) began asking questions about the charges this week.

Hall lives with her cat in a self-contained flat in Wolverhampton, which is managed by Select Lifestyles and is separate from a larger building where other disabled people receive supported living services from the company.

Although she has received one-to-one support from Select Lifestyles in the past, she has not done so for months, and possibly years.

She said she did not currently receive any one-to-one care at all from Select Lifestyles.

She told DNS this week: “I’m independent. I shouldn’t be paying really because I don’t have the care.

“When I went to the council, they said I was living in a residential home and need 50 hours of care.

“All I need help with is bills and forms and letters. I don’t need personal care at all.

“I feel like it’s a bit of a rip-off and they are taking advantage and they are taking the mick a little bit.”

She added: “It’s very strange, it’s very odd. I haven’t had a proper carer for two years, I do everything myself.”

When DNS initially approached Select Lifestyles, a manager insisted that the company did not receive the money Hall was being charged by the council.

A colleague later promised to carry out “a thorough investigation to ensure transparency and accountability”.

The company then engaged a public relations company to deal with DNS, and Emma Franks, executive director at Select Lifestyles, said in a statement: “We have been made aware of Ms Hall’s concerns regarding care charges and are actively liaising with the City of Wolverhampton Council.

“While we can confirm we receive no payment other than the rent for the apartment and service charge, we are committed to ensuring the necessary assistance is given to Ms Hall.

“The well-being and satisfaction of our residents is a priority, and we are working with relevant parties to provide further clarity and help address concerns.”

The council originally claimed that the charge was “not for one-to-one care, but for 56 hours per week of day and waking night care provided at Ms Hall’s supported living accommodation.

“She currently pays £108.19 per week towards this, with the remainer of the total cost of £1,084.16 per week being met by the local authority.”

But DNS questioned this statement when Select Lifestyles said it received no payment other than rent and a service charge, which Hall has been told covers the cost of utilities.

The council and Select Lifestyles finally provided a joint statement, claiming that “Shauline Hall is currently residing in supported living accommodation, which is staffed 24 hours a day to provide support to people living there”.

The statement said: “The City of Wolverhampton Council pays the provider Select Lifestyles £1,084.16 per week for the shared care that Ms Hall is planned to receive, and she is charged a weekly contribution towards this cost of £108.19 per week.

“With the support of Select Lifestyles, Ms Hall has been working towards independence and, as a result, the care and support she has been receiving has reduced, and she is no longer in receipt of one-to-one care.

“We know that as a result of the progress she has made, supported living is no longer necessary for Ms Hall and that she will be able to live independently as soon as alternative accommodation is identified.

“We have been actively supporting her with this and will continue to do so.

“In the meantime, Ms Hall is able to continue to reside in supported living with the existing arrangements for shared care remaining in place and we are in the process of reviewing what changes can be made to her current provision in the light of information now received.”

The council had declined by noon today (Thursday) to confirm how long Hall has been paying for care and support she has not been receiving, but said it was not as long as four years.

It had also failed to explain who was receiving the funding for the support when Select Lifestyles insisted that it only received rent for her flat and the service charge for the bills.

The council also refused to say if the concerns would now be investigated, if Shauline Hall would be reimbursed for the thousands of pounds of charges she has wrongly had to pay, and if the council would apologise to her.

Cummins said she was extremely concerned about how Hall had been treated.

She said: “It’s absolutely ridiculous. I told them it’s an absolute disgrace. They are not treating her right.”

She called on other disabled people in similar situations to check what they are paying for their care package.

Picture by Google: Wolverhampton council’s Civic Centre

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