Debt with Disability News Articles

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

5corpio,

Notice how the BBC has left out the comma lol quite deceiving.

Spot checks on sick benefit staff ordered to be 'nicer'

Should it not read:

Spot checks on sick benefit, staff ordered to be 'nicer'

Yes only a little comma but it makes all the difference as to how the story is read.

Naughty BBC :spank:whip

[5corpio]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[CENTER][B]Four Seasons to take Southern Cross's mantle as biggest care homes operator[/B]
[/CENTER]

• Company aims to add 100 former Southern Cross homes
• Taxpayers will have interest in market leader via RBS stake
• Potential flotation will let RBS repay millions to Treasury

Four Seasons Health Care, 40% owned by state-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland, will be the largest care homes operator in Britain, with more than 500 properties, following the demise of Southern Cross. This means taxpayers, who have an 83% stake in RBS, will have an interest in a market leader that bankers say could seek an IPO in three years. A flotation would allow RBS to sell down its holding in Four Seasons, repaying the Treasury tens of millions of pounds.It would also enable Four Seasons, headed by former GP and primary care trust chief Pete Calveley, to repay some of its £750m of debt.

The rise of Four Seasons follows [URL="http://www.guprod.gnl/business/2011/jul/11/southern-cross-landlords-take-over-all-homes"]the seizure of Southern Cross by its landlords[/URL] in June after it admitted it couldn't a fford its £250m-a-year rental bill. Landlords are in the throes of finding new operators to run the 750 homes Southern Cross used to own.
Industry sources say Four Seasons, which already operates 425 homes, will acquire more than 100 former Southern Cross units.
Chai Patel's Court Cavendish, a rival operator, is taking more than 250 properties owned by NHP, Southern Cross's biggest landlord. Patel, a former head of the Priory Group of rehabilitation clinics, is trying to take over the running of homes owned by London & Regional, another big Southern Cross landlord.

Four Seasons' recent history is troubled: it was taken over by Three Delta, a Qatari investment vehicle, in 2006 in a highly leveraged deal secured against rising....[B]Read more on todays news----> [/B][URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/sep/04/four-seasons-biggest-care-homes"]Four Seasons to take Southern Cross's mantle as biggest care homes operator | Business | The Observer [/URL]

[5corpio]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[CENTER][B][SIZE=4][COLOR=Navy]Is the power of attorney working?[/COLOR][/SIZE][/B]
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[B]For [/B]families with a loved one suffering from dementia, managing their financial affairs can be complicated.

[B]That's[/B] why many are advised to draw up lasting powers of attorney. The legal tool allows someone to choose other people who they want to make decisions on their behalf when they can no longer do so. But according to the Alzheimer's Society, problems with how banks deal with powers of attorney are growing, and that's causing added distress to sufferers and their families.
Wrong address

[B]The [/B]last year has been very stressful for Paul King and his family. The photographer from London registered the power of attorney over his mother's financial affairs after she began suffering from dementia, but he's faced a battle trying to make her banks deal with him instead of her. The Halifax wrote to him on three occasions at his mother's address but he didn't receive any of the letters. Santander acknowledged a year ago that he was the attorney, but in July they sent the online banking application to his....[B]Read more on 'Paul Kings 'this story----> [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14952378"]BBC News - Is the power of attorney working?[/URL][/B]

[garlok]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

Thanks for the above 5corpio,

However dealt with in a proper way this should never be a problem. Firstly, the new LPA's are complex matters to set up and remember there are now two. There is one for the person's financial affairs and the other is for health and welfare matters for the unfortunate person. I would advise NEVER try to deal with these matters yourself or with what is laughingly called "help" by a financial institution, its very worth while have a solicitor actually draw it all up, the forms really are complex. If there is then any problem with a bank or similar piece of low life, the solicitor remains representing the attorney and can write in blistering terms to the bank concerned as an officer of the court, in this case The Court of Protection. A bank will certainly not want anyone from the court involved and will normally come to heel and be most obedient to the attorney's instructions. You can go further but it is much more onerous and become a "deputy" in the court's eyes and the banks just have to bow in homage at that stage.

But NEVER trust them and NEVER use their legal "services" which normally amounts to some bimbo who has just completed her first year of a law degree and has just about been taught to read and write. If you don't believe me then read up on what B'ham University are having to do for students in their first year!

regards
Garlok

[5corpio]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[SIZE=1][B]There was a follow up in the Guardian paper on saturday as well:[/B][/SIZE]
[CENTER][SIZE=4][COLOR=Navy][B]Power of attorney: Readers support call for change in balance of power[/B]
[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[B][I]Our [URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/blog/2011/sep/10/power-of-attorney"]recent article[/URL] on struggles with the finance industry when managing an elderly loved one's affairs have hit a nerve[/I][/B][/CENTER]

Readers have given strong support to [I]The Observer's[/I] call for the finance industry to clean up its dealings with people trying to exercise power of attorney on behalf of vulnerable relatives. Last week [URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/blog/2011/sep/10/power-of-attorney?INTCMP=SRCH"]Brian Williams[/URL] wrote about the frustration of trying to register the PoA with his elderly mother's banks and then accessing their services. He is clearly not alone in facing such problems. Observer readers — including solicitors — have filled the Cash email queue, recounting similar stories and offering advice.

Jane Thomas, whose father suffers from Alzheimer's, has had "nothing but a nightmare with HSBC". She says: "All fine when I used his details and card, but now [it's] all gone wrong following the secure card arrival, [which] wouldn't work [and is] now all cancelled. My dad is getting daily calls from a foreign call centre, none of which he can comprehend, and I'm wasting hours on the phone getting no sense, only to go to the branch for the same."
It took four months for Frank Johnson to register a PoA with HSBC, where his father has an account. He writes: "In January my father was taken into care and I immediately had to sort out his finances. The local council took less than 10 minutes. To redirect his post at the Post Office took about 10 minutes. The Pensions Service was sorted by return of post (about three working days). The Inland Revenue were happy to believe I had power of attorney, without seeing the document. But HSBC took about four months, which included numerous fruitless phone calls, and many bank branch visits to talk to staff. When I was eventually registered, I was not issued a card or cheque book and the branch staff didn't have any advice on how I was supposed to access the account."

Alan Williams, who has PoA for his mother, who has dementia, is caught in postal hell with HSBC subsidiary First Direct. "I and my sister have lasting power of attorney over her affairs and First Direct recognise this, but we are not permitted to have debit cards, they will not let us have online or telephone access, and any instructions from us have to be in writing. Effectively we can't operate my mother's account. The result is we have to open a new account somewhere else and add ourselves as attorneys for that, and of course all this is difficult to do as my mother's condition deteriorates."

Helen Nicholls, who has lodged a PoA in favour of her two children and two substitute attorneys, has struggled to get Nationwide building society to accept the substitutes in any documentation. "Further, each time any form of bank or investment statement is mailed to me, the address starts with my name, then PoA and my children's names in the second line. Try as I might, Nationwide will not remove the PoA line, which I regard as confidential. I lodged an official complaint with Nationwide and have now referred it to the FSA. By contrast, my mother had a PoA in my favour with her Spanish bank. They couldn't have been more helpful and fluent in English with a complete understanding of a PoA."

But not Spanish banks in the UK it seems. One reader registered a PoA relatively easily at Lloyds TSB and Cheltenham & Gloucester, and the Halifax even had a dedicated member of staff in branch to handle things which he thought.....[B]Read more from this story---> [url="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/sep/17/power-of-attorney"]Power of attorney: Readers support call for change in balance of power | Money | The Observer [/url][/B]

[garlok]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

This tells you all you need to know 5corpio about the human filth and detritus that is recruited by the financial sector and the banks total greed and lack of morals or even obediance of the law.

regards
Garlok

[5corpio]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[CENTER][B][SIZE=4][COLOR=Navy]Terminally ill people warned over possible benefit cut[/COLOR][/SIZE][/B]
[/CENTER]

Thousands of terminally-ill people have begun receiving letters warning them their benefits could be cut in April even though Parliament has yet to approve the changes. Under proposals being scrutinised in the Lords, Contributory Employment Support Allowance (CESA) [COLOR=Red]will be time-limited to 12 months from April 2012[/COLOR]. [CENTER]
[B]The changes will be retrospective.[/B][/CENTER]

[COLOR=Red]So people on CESA for 12 months or more when the rule comes into force will have their benefit cut immediately[/COLOR]. Earlier this week, delegates at the Liberal Democrat conference in Birmingham passed a motion calling on their MPs to oppose the "arbitrary" time limit, contained in the Welfare Bill, and the plans are likely to face stiff opposition in the Lords.

[CENTER] [B]'No win situation'[/B]
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Neil Coyle, of the Disability Alliance, said that while it is uncertain whether the rule will be passed, it is premature for the Department for Work and Pensions to warn recipients of the changes. "The letters are now being sent at a cost of £2.7m, including letters to people who unaffected by the change but who will experience considerable anxiety," he said. "The government has time to change plans before terminally-ill people and their families have this avoidable and quite nasty cut........[B]Read more on this story---> [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14999755"]BBC News - Terminally ill people warned over possible benefit cut[/URL][/B]

[5corpio]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[CENTER][B][SIZE=4][COLOR=Navy]Plan to scrap medical negligence legal aid opposed[/COLOR][/SIZE][/B]
[/CENTER]

A charity has begun a legal challenge over government proposals to axe legal aid for victims of medical negligence.

[URL="http://www.avma.org.uk/pages/legal_aid.html"]Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA) is seeking a judicial review[/URL] of the plans it calls "completely irrational". It fears the most vulnerable people who are injured by negligent NHS treatment will be denied access to justice. The Ministry of Justice says victims will still have access to solicitors through "no win, no fee" agreements, which it is reforming. AvMA says the government has failed to listen to the overwhelming arguments for keeping legal aid for clinical negligence.

[B]'Spiralling costs'[/B] It says legal aid spending on clinical negligence, which stands at around £17m, is a tiny proportion of the total £2.2bn budget.
The charity's website states that...[B]Read more on this story---> [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15013815"]BBC News - Plan to scrap medical negligence legal aid opposed[/URL][/B]

[5corpio]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[B]Care reforms delayed despite seven in ten over 55s wanting other taxpayers to foot huge bills[/B]

Key elderly care reforms costing £1.7billion a year will be delayed and potentially scrapped due to the global economic turmoil, it emerged today. It could leave millions of pensioners living in fear of losing their life savings to foot unlimited bills for nursing homes, which can cost as much as £50,000 a year. The news comes after seven in ten over 55s said they believe their own long-term care bills should be paid for by...[B]Read more on this story---> [URL="http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-2040645/Seven-55s-want-taxpayers-foot-huge-bills-old-age-care.html"]Seven in ten over 55s want other taxpayers to foot huge bills for old age care | This is Money[/URL][/B]

[BBoo]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

Sorry to be so behind with things here. I've just read two articles going way back which deserve further comment.

Firstly the one regarding revised figures for DLA. Now, to me 'demographic change' has always meant a change in the population of some sort. For DLA they have separated out the increase in over-65's and demographic change re its impact on DLA. Can anyone explain to me what exactly the demographic change is then, if it isn't the increase in the number of older people?

Secondly @ Garlok. I 100% agree with you re ATOS. Their examinations of people I know have varied from shoddy to non-existant. However, while it is easy to say everyone should complain, a point with which I don't disagree at all, it remains a sad fact that some of the most vulnerable members of society are forced to walk this horrendous treadmill, and with absolutely no disrespect to them at all, they simply either don't have the mental capacity at that time, or are just too anxious / scared / nervous to be thinking about complaints.

I feel these factors need to be recognised, as I think if people were to see the ATOS medics when functioning on four cylinders, the number of complaints would rise massively.

[5corpio]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[CENTER][B]Attendance allowance: the £200-plus a month many elderly people miss out on[/B]
[/CENTER]

It is a tax-free benefit for ill and disabled over-65 – but many either do not know about it or are unsure about claiming

Many ill or disabled people over the age of 65 are missing out on getting attendance allowance, worth up to £73.60 a week for the most severe cases, because of misconceptions about the entitlement conditions, according to leading charities. Attendance allowance is a tax-free benefit paid to people over 65 who need help to look after themselves because of physical or mental [URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/disability"]disability[/URL]. But don't be put off applying if you don't receive help from a carer; the allowance is based on the help you need, not the help you actually get, and you can get it irrespective of your income.

"You don't have to have someone caring for you in order to claim, and you can spend the money however you want," says Age UK. "It does not matter if you live alone or with other people, or whether you have a carer – what matters is that you need help with personal care, supervision or watching over. Whether you are actually getting any help is irrelevant." Age UK views AA as a well-targeted benefit which helps many [URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/older-people"]older people[/URL] with disabilities stay independent in their own home for as....Read more here---> [URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/sep/30/attendance-allowance-elderly-miss-out"]Attendance allowance: the £200-plus a month many elderly people miss out on
[/URL]

[5corpio]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[CENTER][B]OFT warns of unfair doorstep sales practices in mobility aids sector[/B]
[/CENTER]

The OFT has today issued a warning about traders that use unfair sales practices to sell mobility aids such as scooters, stairlifts and adjustable beds to the elderly and disabled in their home.

Last year, Consumer Direct, the OFT-managed advice service, received 4,500 calls from people complaining or asking for advice about mobility aids. An OFT report published today found that elderly and disabled customers who are subject to high pressure sales techniques from doorstep traders can pay high prices for mobility aids. It also highlighted the stress and inconvenience caused when customers are misled into making an inappropriate and expensive purchase. As part of a national consumer awareness campaign, the OFT is encouraging people to shop around and understand their rights when buying mobility aids from doorstep traders.

People looking to purchase equipment that will help them or their family be more mobile and independent often invite mobility aid traders to their home so that it can be assessed and measured for the equipment. Many traders treat their customers fairly but some use high pressure sales tactics that encourage people to make snap decisions without comparing prices or checking to see if the product is the right one for their needs. Colin Brown, Director in the OFT Goods and Consumer Group said:

'With so many different mobility products available, it can be difficult to know whether you're buying the right item and what price you should be paying. It's important that people aren't pressurised into making a hasty decision that could leave them out of pocket or with an item that's not what they need. 'This campaign aims to help people have the confidence to say no if they're unsure about what's...[B]Read more from the OFT--> [URL="http://www.oft.gov.uk/news-and-updates/press/2011/107-11"]OFT warns of unfair doorstep sales practices in mobility aids sector - The Office of Fair Trading[/URL][/B]

[5corpio]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[CENTER] [B][SIZE=4][COLOR=Navy]80,000 can't afford to pay for care[/COLOR][/SIZE][/B]
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[CENTER] [B] [I][SIZE=2]Most elderly people need help meeting the high cost of nursing care. We review the options. [/SIZE][/I][/B]
[/CENTER]

How long would your money last if you needed nursing care? For 80,000 elderly people each year the answer is ''not long enough'', as their wealth is rapidly depleted, forcing them to fall back on often inferior local authority care. In many cases this will mean a forced move to a cheaper residential home, or, if care is received at home, scaling back the level of service. Given the high cost of nursing care, it is not hard to see why so many run out of funds each year. The average care home now costs more than £30,000 a year – more than the cost of a year's education at Eton.

But, thanks to complex means tests, many people don't get any help at all towards these costs. If you have assets of more than £23,250 – and in most cases this will include the value of any property owned – you will be deemed a "self-funder", and left to arrange your own care. Not all those who need care in later life go into a residential nursing home. An increasing number opt to have care in their own home. Here the value of your home won't be counted against you, but costs can still...[B]Read more here---> [URL="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/insurance/8819445/80000-cant-afford-to-pay-for-care.html"]80,000 can't afford to pay for care - Telegraph[/URL][/B]

[5corpio]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[CENTER][B]Basic care given to elderly in hospital 'alarming'[/B][/CENTER]

Too many hospitals in England are falling short in the most basic care they are giving elderly patients, inspectors say. The Care Quality Commission carried out unannounced visits at 100 hospitals to assess dignity and nutrition standards. It identified concerns in 55 cases, describing the findings as "alarming". Common areas of concern included a lack of support for those who needed help eating, poor hygiene and curtains not being closed properly. The inspections were ordered by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley after several highly critical reports by campaigners, including the Patients Association.
The 100 sites inspected - representing more than a third of the total number in England - were chosen through a combination of random selection and because previous research had...[I]Read more [B][URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15279794"]HERE[/URL][/B][/I]

[garlok]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

Hippocrates (him of medical oath fame) said:

"Future generations will judge your civilisation by the way you treat your elderly and vulnerable people"

Britain is a dog awful uncivilised nation is it not?

Garlok