Moray Council to claim back excess payments to people who arrange own care needs

Moray Council is set to claim back a "significant" amount of cash from people who arrange their own care at home.

Within Moray 150 adults receive self directed support payments – totalling about £3million – to help them live independently.

A council audit of 15 random care packages found a total of £45,587 sitting in the accounts of eight users of the service.

These surpluses ranged from £618 to £13,285.

Claimants are only allowed to accumulate three months' worth of payments and should tell the council if too much money builds up.

A financial review will now look at all 150 self direct support accounts, with action taken to recover any excess funds.

The issue was brought before the council's audit and scrutiny committee on Wednesday.

Audit and risk manager Dafydd Lewis said: "The review will result in significant funds coming back to the council.

"The pandemic is having an impact. Families have been caring for family members and service users have not been using the full package."

Councillor George Alexander (Forres, Independent) raised concerns that the unspent funds might be the result of people struggling to find the right care.

He said: "I understand that the pandemic must have been a problem.

"I just wonder if we can justify service users keeping some of that money."

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.