Autistic man faces eviction over Wiltshire Council care fees deficit
Darren Jones from Warminster could be forced to leave his residential care home if the Council doesn't agree to pay an extra £1,500 per week
A Warminster man with severe autism faces eviction from his home unless Wiltshire Council agrees to fund his ongoing care.
Darren Jones lives at Willow View, a residential care home for adults who have learning disabilities and complex needs.
Care provider Autonomy Life says the amount it receives from Wiltshire Council to house and care for Darren’s needs is nearly £1,500 a week more than it gets.
The care home has said it will be forced to evict Darren (30) from the two-bedroom bungalow where he has lived for nine years unless it receives an uplift in funding from the council.
Wiltshire Council has suggested that Darren could be moved to less expensive supported living accommodation in Devizes – a 35-minute drive away.
But the move would mean Darren breaking contact with his primary carer of 12 years, and his mum Donna (49) cutting back on painkilling medication to allow her to drive.
Darren is non-verbal with complex physical and emotional needs and prone to violent outbursts – leading to breakages, self-injury, or injury to others – if he becomes frustrated with his inability to communicate with other people.
His two-bedroom bungalow allows a carer to live with him at all times. Donna says he has a tight bond with his four core carers, but especially with his primary carer, who has been with him for 12 years and has learned to interpret non-verbal signals from Darren, which prevents outbursts.
Darren was in specialist residential schooling until he was 18. He was then placed into the community and lived in supported living accommodation in Trowbridge before it was deemed inappropriate for his needs. He moved to Willow View in 2016.
“There was more space and he could go out with his carers,” said Donna. “He enjoys going to the park. He became more relaxed and thrived there. He is happy and safe where he is.”
Donna moved house from Amesbury to be closer to Darren. “I have fibromyalgia and use a mobility scooter. With Darren at Willow View I can visit him two or three times a week while caring for my teenage daughter, who also has severe autism,” she said.
Autonomy Life says that it started caring for Darren nine years ago its costs have increased by 50 per cent while the fees it receives from Wiltshire Council have increased by 16 per cent.
The company says Darren’s fees should be £6,133 a week. Wiltshire Council is paying £4,662 a week – a deficit of £1,471 a week, or over £76,000 a year.
It adds that the council has placed new service users with Autonomy Life at the current rate – but is refusing an uplift for ‘legacy’ users.
In a statement, Autonomy Life said: “We provide highly specialist support to adults living with learning difficulties and autism.
“We work very closely with families to try to ensure that placements can be maintained, but the reality is that longer term placements don’t receive cost increases in line with inflation and uplifts in the national minimum/living wage.
“In this case, we have stretched our resources as far as they will possibly go before recognising that we can simply no longer make the sums work for the level of care that our service users require.
“Terminating placements is an absolute last resort for us but when the funding deficit has grown over many years and sufficient uplifts are not forthcoming, and indeed reductions are proposed with no change to the required care plan, we have no choice but to take the hardest of decisions, which we recognise have a significant impact on people.
“We have done our utmost to negotiate a resolution to this issue over many months but to no avail, and have had no choice but to regrettably serve notice on placements that we would very much prefer to keep.”
Darren’s GP is also concerned, writing: “Over time Darren has settled very well with minimal challenging behaviours. I believe he would adapt poorly to any significant changes, such as moving house.”
The issue lays bare the enormous task facing Wiltshire Council, which is responsible for adult social care provision.
Cllr Gordon King, Wiltshire Council’s cabinet member for adult social care said: “While it’s not appropriate to go into details on specific cases, where we are looking at a move for someone, we will do everything we can to minimise the disruption and ensure the family are regularly updated as we understand any change can be difficult.
“In some cases, a move may be from residential to supported living. Supported living offers individuals greater financial independence and can often retain key disability benefits which are often reduced or unavailable in residential care.
“We understand how people can feel settled in accommodation. However, where care providers are asking for a disproportionate increase, we must challenge this as we have to ensure our care budgets are properly managed and everyone is fairly funded.
“We cannot comment on individual contractual arrangements, but in general terms our rates are competitive and regular meetings are held with all of our providers and where contractual arrangements are brought to an end we will focus on the residents.”