Disabilities

Question

If a person can evidence disability related expenses, do you pay these / subtract them from a person’s care charges?
2. Do you have a definitive list of what constitutes disability related expenses?
3. If yes to 2 above, please supply the list.
4. If no to 2 above, can you give examples of what you would consider as disability related expenses, based on what you have paid for in the past.
5. Please say if you would pay for any of the following as disability related expenses to enable disabled people to reach a minimal acceptable standard of living:

• Technological equipment, software and IT training (eg. laptop, mobile phone, screen reader software, etc.) to enable communication, facilitate access to written materials, make the best use of a person’s sight, etc;

• Domestic help, eg. regular help with cleaning, dealing with particular jobs;

• Additional travel costs, eg. taxi journeys to medical appointments, visits to dispersed social networks;

• Additional costs of socialising and going on holiday, eg. companion’s travel costs (without whom a holiday would be impossible), using a hotel rather than self-catering accommodation, etc;

• Additional cost of household goods, eg. better lighting, floor coverings, paying someone to help with home maintenance, etc;

• Additional health care costs, eg. increase in the number of prescriptions, purchase of sanitary/hygiene items, etc;

• Utilities, eg. additional cost of electricity to run technological equipment, additional lighting, etc;

• Specialist support, eg. sign language interpreters, which is not always considered a ‘reasonable adjustment’ to providing services;

• Social activities, eg. to combat the risk of social isolation;

• Anything else?

Answer

1. If a person can evidence disability related expenses, do you pay these / subtract them from a person’s care charges?  At present there are no financial assessments being carried out for any care services.
2. Do you have a definitive list of what constitutes disability related expenses?  No.  We would look at each case individually.
3. If yes to 2 above, please supply the list.  N/A
4. If no to 2 above, can you give examples of what you would consider as disability related expenses, based on what you have paid for in the past.  Additional heating.
5. Please say if you would pay for any of the following as disability related expenses to enable disabled people to reach a minimal acceptable standard of living:

• Technological equipment, software and IT training (eg. laptop, mobile phone, screen reader software, etc.) to enable communication, facilitate access to written materials, make the best use of a person’s sight, etc; Yes

• Domestic help, eg. regular help with cleaning, dealing with particular jobs; No

• Additional travel costs, eg. taxi journeys to medical appointments, visits to dispersed social networks; No

• Additional costs of socialising and going on holiday, eg. companion’s travel costs (without whom a holiday would be impossible), using a hotel rather than self-catering accommodation, etc; Yes

• Additional cost of household goods, eg. better lighting, floor coverings, paying someone to help with home maintenance, etc; No

• Additional health care costs, eg. increase in the number of prescriptions, purchase of sanitary/hygiene items, etc; No

• Utilities, eg. additional cost of electricity to run technological equipment, additional lighting, etc; Yes

• Specialist support, eg. sign language interpreters, which is not always considered a ‘reasonable adjustment’ to providing services; Yes

• Social activities, eg. to combat the risk of social isolation; No

• Anything else? No