Agencies ‘Failing On Carer Theft’
http://moneycarer.org.uk/articles/articles/23/1/Agencies-aFailing-On-Carer-Thefta/Page1.html
Money Carer
Recent news stories of interest from Money Carer. By Money Carer
Published on 10/09/2007
The BBC has investigated the issue of theft by carers of disabled or older people who live in their own homes and has discovered that almost a quarter of care agencies fail to protect their clients.
Agencies ‘Failing On Carer Theft’
Radio Five Live found that £60,000 has been stolen from people being cared for in their own homes so far this year, with incidents ranging from cash being stolen from purses or wallets to carers going on spending sprees with their client’s credit cards.
The Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) registers, inspects and reports on adult social care in England. CSCI said that more than 1,000 agencies do not meet their minimum standards for financial protection.
Action for Elder Abuse, the charity that commissioned a report published earlier this year into incidents of abuse of older people that reported a staggering 86,500 cases of financial abuse in 2006, called for agencies to take more responsibility.
Government standards that all agencies must meet include having appropriate policies and procedures for the handling for client’s money – shopping on their behalf and collecting pensions – as well as controls in place to stop carers accepting gifts from clients or using their own retail store loyalty cards to gain points when shopping for clients.
Action for Elder Abuse is calling for more custodial sentences to be imposed on carers who steal from their clients.
CSCI is the social care watchdog for England who use powers to be “firm but fair” in stamping out bad practice using their inspection report procedures as the main tool to show a care service what they need to improve and what they are doing well. CSCI can use legal powers to order a care home or care service to improve if they are falling well short of the required standards.
The Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) registers, inspects and reports on adult social care in England. CSCI said that more than 1,000 agencies do not meet their minimum standards for financial protection.
Action for Elder Abuse, the charity that commissioned a report published earlier this year into incidents of abuse of older people that reported a staggering 86,500 cases of financial abuse in 2006, called for agencies to take more responsibility.
Government standards that all agencies must meet include having appropriate policies and procedures for the handling for client’s money – shopping on their behalf and collecting pensions – as well as controls in place to stop carers accepting gifts from clients or using their own retail store loyalty cards to gain points when shopping for clients.
Action for Elder Abuse is calling for more custodial sentences to be imposed on carers who steal from their clients.
CSCI is the social care watchdog for England who use powers to be “firm but fair” in stamping out bad practice using their inspection report procedures as the main tool to show a care service what they need to improve and what they are doing well. CSCI can use legal powers to order a care home or care service to improve if they are falling well short of the required standards.