11/02/2025
Here’s why we won’t work direct with Lancashire county council anymore- and how you can still use us
Back last Nov we had a text from a former colleague, she was asking if we had vacancies because she’d heard of a client in urgent need
We did so we confirmed
Soon after a social worker called me- saying she’d been told we can help.
She told me of an elderly person, who’s care company has withdrawn care with no notice because of a dispute,
She said this elderly person was immobile, cared for in bed, at high pressure risk, and had full continence care needs.
This was after office hours- on a Friday.
Like the kind person I am I felt sad and offered to squeeze this in, I had to find someone to have my children last minute and go and help.
We were asked our hourly rate and told it was for 2 hours a day , with 2 staff so that would be a 28 hour package. I asked why the package was so low given continence needs but was told this would be explained (usually people in bed need at least 4 calls a day)
I asked for paperwork and was told she was struggling and hectic on a Friday and it might take til next week to pass off but I was assured it was “on the system”
We had nothing but an address and name id written on the back of an envelope but we were used to doing emergency work, not usually for LcC usually nhs, but either way I wasn’t going to leave a person in that risk.
I was told if we cannot attend the person would be taken to hospital and likely be in a corridor (nowt like pressure eh)
Luckily the package was a lovely lovely client. it was a distance away from our other calls but we could just about do it in the hour funded plus pay staff travel time & mileage
I do NOT take calls for less than an hour for this level of need, and travel.
I called into social again quite soon after (1 day) to express concerns regarding the level of need being way higher than 2 calls, and I spoke to the last company who said meeting the need in that allocation was impossible and this was why they’d pulled out as the risks so great - and they believed unsafe package.
I noticed on the next pay period that our pay seemed too low. It’s hard to work out what you’ve been paid for by councils as they don’t itemise invoices paid, but I kept an eye on it. Month after month nothing was adding up. I called and checked social had added it to the system, and again expressed my concerns health wise. Was again told all well.
By spring the money deficit was adding up.
When I looked the social worker had recorded us booked for 28 sessions.
Not 28 hours. It’s always usually hours, so when my admin saw 28 it seemed to match and he pressed accept each month.
When I investigated I was told the social worker who called us to do that care simply carried the package on from Last company, to mine as that’s what they did- 28 half hour calls not 28 hours, instead of writing out a new package CLPI
I rang the last care company again who said that’s why they quit, the package had been tried at a downgrade to 1/2 hours and they already felt 2 calls not enough, let alone 20 mins of contact care time each call.
I told the social worker I did not, and would not, agree to half hours- and was told it would be amended and TO KEEP GOING for one hour per call as clients needs should have been re assessed and hadn’t. I was told to keep it at one hour as it can’t be done in less. I had to go over what we did in this time step by step, and show my assessment notes which detailed the needs. I know my job
When the clients needs were reassessed by social services they were assessed at 1 hour of need per call, needs identified matched what I had said
BUT I was told an LCC finance boss had decided I wouldn’t be back paid
I sent call logs proving what we provided, they said as the social worker recorded it as half an hour initially (she didn’t, she edited the last package to our company name instead - copied and pasted over - and it was full of other falsehoods like I’m a long term friend of the client whom I’d never met and that I’d cared for them before- again never met or knew them )
It was not to be paid. They said it was our fault for not noticing sooner, despite them telling me to continue it when I did notice.
This cost me, a single mother with a tiny business, 8k
I couldn’t afford our bills and had to move to a cheaper office. Covid and what councils did and the nhs, with our contracts, had already damaged us beyond belief but still we cared, still we helped in an emergency.
My emails and complaints initially responded to got ghosted, their final answer was it was our error for not noticing so would not be paid
Ok
But since my complaint I then faced them saying they’d remove my other contracts as I only had one (!)
My bid to tender was not supported.
I had been a preferred provider, the only Independant company in Chorley to be good rated for 13 years and over, and a massive reputation- great relationships with social workers, allocators and managers alike- yet one complaint on my side led to a sudden “co incidental” shunning of us
Even them launching the first ever “investigation” to see if theyd ever overpaid us going back over 6 years.
Not to see If we’d ever been underpaid of course (which we usually were for most packages at start and always wrote off)
They managed to decide following this one way investigation that I owed them 1k from a long ago clients package.
I didn’t owe this and we had provided all of the care but there was little we could do to prove this after so long. They’d recorded the package had ended several times and it never had. We were there from day one til the end.
but like I said- we don’t invoice the council. We merely accept or alter what they’ve put on the system - we don’t get an option to invoice them at all. They call it actuals, where they write what they’ve booked you for- and you confirm what you actually did. You can’t over charge or it won’t go through. It has to match.
So… according to LCC bosses, us being underpaid 8k is my fault, for not noticing for a few months when finance is a TINY part of my role.
So…. Why is us being “overpaid” 1 k not their fault for not noticing for years? When their staff have whole teams just for this.
Is it one rule or two rules?
Like always with Governments. It’s 2 rules.
Us & Them
Anyway, without giving me chance to find the old records they deducted the amount back off another clients payments owed to me for work done.
They haven’t refunded what they think they overpaid as the client passed away long ago with no next of kin. So they took money we earned, and under paid me money Ive already paid out to my staff for a job done amazingly, in an emergency
After this I had to disband my amazing doubles team. An award winning team,
People that dealt with things most people can only imagine- with no notice, day in day out. A highly trained team that were my family. The way we worked through Covid together was amazing, and I’ll always be proud of that team. I’d paid them out of my own pocket to provide this clients care and as much as I am always happy to help in emergencies,
This was the final straw.
LCC funded clients can still use us, via direct payments which I’ll help you with. Everyone still has a choice
But, never again am I going direct
And also,
We say in care- if its not written down it didn’t happen, and wow I wish I’d refused to go and help before the paperwork was done,
But! We live and learn ###x Most LCC staff are amazing; but the decision makers hmm. Not so much ###
Support your local companies and demand change. ❤️
