Elderly care is affected by cuts to social care funding

An article in the Independent Newspaper quotes Age UK report describing how local authority care is being cut back while the number of people who need it increases:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/catastrophe-looms-as-cuts-force-elderly-to-fend-for-themselves-9171682.html

Rose George's experience of her stepfather's dementia

It's very painful to read but this article describes Rose George's experience of the dementia of her stepfather

http://rosegeorge.com/site/a-cup-and-saucer

A web-site to manage personal care

Tyze Personal Networks is an online tool that enables users to create a private community centred on one person with care needs which has recently received funding from NESTA.

http://tyze.com/

A recent NESTA article about attempts to combat loneliness:

http://www.nesta.org.uk/assets/blog_entries/banishing_loneliness

Terry Pratchett's Dementia Blog

The author Terry Pratchett's announced that he had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's in 2007. He is writing a blog which for Alzheimer's Research which is at:

http://www.dementiablog.org/terry-pratchett-on-dementia/

Great website for information about carehomes and carers

This site won an award recently from Local Government Chronicle

www.myhomelife.org.uk

Proving the identity of someone under Power of Attorney

I've had two situations recently where I've been asked to provide proof of address for my mother when acting under Lasting Power of Attorney.  This is getting increasingly difficult as my mother has lived in a care home for the last five years and has no current passport, driving licence or utility bills.

One company accepted a letter from the carehome and the other wouldn't.

The British Banking Association have published a useful leaflet here

http://www.bba.org.uk/publications/entry/guidance-for-people-wanting-to-manage-a-bank-account-for-someone-else/leaflets/

But the answer to the question of how to prove identity in this situation is still unclear - it says that a letter from an appropriate person may provide the necessary evidence but it's not clear who decides whether it does or not.

Yorkshire Building Society Power of Attorney

It's that time of the year again when people who have savings in buildings societies get to vote on whether or not the directors should be re-elected and whether it's okay for them to award themselves salary increases.  But voting becomes quite difficult if the person that you are acting for under Power of Attorney has savings at Yorkshire Building Society.  Here are Yorkshire Buldings Society's notes for voting under Power of Attorney:

"If you are the holder of a power of attorney on behalf of a member and wish to vote, you must attend the meeting in person.  You cannot appoint a proxy.

A member entitled to vote who has given a power of attorney is not prevented from appointing a proxy or attending and voting in person at the AGM instead of his/her attorney."

So my mother, who is now unable to write, can vote for herself or I can spend a whole day going to a meeting in Bradford.

You can see, in an earlier post, http://carehomemap.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/yorkshire-building-society.html, the full text of the letter that I wrote when this happened last year and their reply saying how they were trying to change this rule - but the wording in the rules is exactly the same this year as it was last year.

I've decided to stop using Yorkshire Building Society and I've transferred my mother's small ISA savings to another company.

There's an interesting article here calling for the finance industry to clean up its dealings with people who have power of attorney

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/sep/17/power-of-attorney