A REDDITCH family say they have been left high and dry after Worcestershire county council, without notice, stopped maintenance payments for their son, who suffers from cerebral palsy.
The first Ron Daykin knew of the decision was when he went to pay his son Richard’s carers – and found nothing in his bank account.
“Richard is lucky, he has us to fight his corner, but what if this happened to someone who didn’t have someone on their side, or, God forbid, we weren’t around?” said Ron.
And he says when he complained, county officials gave a variety of different explanations before offering an emergency payment which, a fortnight later, still hasn’t reached the family.
“We’ve been told different things by different people but we are fairly sure that our argument is right and that they have unfairly stopped Richard’s payments,” said Ron, who helps run Special Olympics Redditch.
“But the most important thing is this – whatever the reason, right or wrong, they should at least inform people before going ahead with something like this rather than simply stopping payments without telling anyone.
Courage
“They seemed to think the money would just be sitting in a bank account but as soon as it’s in, it’s out paying for carers.”
Richard’s story is one of incredible courage – despite his condition the 32-year-old has gone on to live as independent a life as possible with his own flat and a network of support provided by carers, day groups and his parents.
To pay for this he receives an allowance which, up until 2015 was distributed without problem by an organisation called the Independent Living Fund.
However in that year this was transferred to the local authority, in Richard’s case, Worcestershire county council.
“We have only hit a problem since they took over,” said Ron. “They wanted to do their own assessment of Richard, which we weren’t happy with as we didn’t think they fully understood the mechanics of his condition.
“They claimed we had been over-paid, then offered us an emergency payment, then rescinded it, and then offered us another emergency payment which, to date, hasn’t been paid.
“We feel an injustice has been served on us due to Richard’s settlement being miscalculated. We are now in danger of being put in a position of not being able to pay invoices or his carers and it’s a position we should not be in.”
A Worcestershire County Council spokesperson said: “We handle each case appropriately, however we do not comment on individual cases.”
