1.For each of the last five years, how many financial assessments have you undertaken in relation to care costs?
We do not hold this information
2.For each of the last five years, what is the average time taken to conclude financial assessments?
Approximately 1.5 hours
3.For each of the last five years, in how many financial assessments did you conclude there had been a deliberate deprivation of assets?
We hold this information but to identify, locate and compile we would have to manually examine approximately 12000 case files, at even only two minutes per case the total time needed would be well in excess of the 18 hours allowed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 Section 12 – Cost of Compliance.
4.or each of the last five years, what is the overall sum you have recovered through identifying deliberately deprived assets?
We do not hold this information
5.Do all of your communicated decisions regarding financial assessments inform the applicant of: (a) any right of appeal or review; and (b) their right to contact the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) ?
All of our initial financial assessment communication and information mentions the appeals process. That process includes confirmation that individuals can contact the LGO when they have exhausted our own complaints processes, at which point they are informed of their right to contact the LGO.
6.For each of the last five years, how many appeals have there been from financial assessment decisions?
We do not hold this information
7.Please can you provide any internal training materials used which relate to deliberate deprivation of assets?
We do not hold this information. Our procedure is to refer any potential cases of deliberate deprivation to a Team Leader who will then discuss with our Legal Team the merits of each individual case.