Dear supporter,

Help the Aged has launched Enough is Enough, a hard hitting campaign designed to highlight the nature and scale of elder abuse in the UK.

At any one time some 500,000 older people face elder abuse, often at home and at the hands of someone they trust. We need your support to increase awareness of elder abuse and to ensure that the Government acts now to stop it.

Share your experiences of elder abuse with us and we will use them to build a case for change.

You can find out more about our elder abuse campaign and view Joan's story at: http://www.helptheaged.org.uk/en-gb/Campaigns/ElderAbuse/

Chris Martin
Website editor

I am a practising solicitor.  My father and step mother have been the subject of the most appalling financial abuse on the part of a relative of my step mother.  Despite action via the Court of Protection  who have at last authorised the appointment of an independent receiver, we are still waiting for that appointment to be implimented by the Court one year on from my first complaint.

The situation is that my father has been supporting himself and his wife via his own pension for the last 4 years and the relative has had access to my step mother's pensions, attendance allowance  and assets and has enjoyed a very comfortable life style with foreign holidays and putting her son through private school on the proceeds.

So yes I am very supportive of your campaign and I am willing to offer any help I can to highlight this very neglected area.

We need justice for the elderly and swift proceedures.

Please contact me if I can help in any way with your campaign.

Yours sincerely

Gillian Cockburn

Cockburns, solicitors, Guildford  GU2 4EY  01483 452848

My wife and I fully support your campaign after having experienced the financial abuse of my disabled mothering law by her close friend who held an enduring power of attorney. Her friend had worked in the care industry and according to rumours and fact it had been very lucrative. This we discovered in the course of our investigations.

We were completely unaware of the EPA and feel any POA should include the notification to the family as in the procedure of a receivership by the court of protection.

Bt the time we became suspicious it was too late, mum was in ill heath and had dementia and she could not comprehend how the money could have been removed from her account or what had happened to her pension cash. She did not remember events years earlier and did not want us to question her friend,

Mum was afraid she would not be her friend if we upset her. She had been well groomed and saw her through rose tinted glasses.

There were police investigations, the EPA was revoked and my wife was made her mother’s receiver by the court of protection. Her friend was never prosecuted and walked away with over £30,000 claiming it was a gift. The case was treated as low priority and EPA was issued when mum was of sound mind, but one does not have to have dementia to be a victim just too trusting or unfamiliar with legal and financial matters.

The burden of proof is obviously high for a criminal prosecution and rightly so, but just because someone has dementia it should not be made easier for the perpetrator. At no time was she asked to explain her actions under the POA act, she clearly had failed in her duties and responsibilities or contact the court of protection to register the EPA when mums memory began to fail, a requirement of the act. At no time was the EPA used for mum’s benefit. Her use of the EPA had been very selective, concentrating on one savings account and cash. What is the purpose of the POA act if it does not protect?

Mum now lives in a nursing home oblivious to the abuse, which is a blessing as she, and my late wife father would be horrified. Her care has been funded by the sell of her house and that another injustice, as for her friend she moved away and probably onto her next victim

Help the Aged is campaigning very hard to stop this kind of abuse. We may be able to use your experiences to help with our campaigning work. If you would be prepared to talk to someone, in the strictest confidence, please email pamela.wilkinson@helptheaged.org.uk

Kate Roberts
Help the Aged

my father has Parkinson's and slight dementia and was looked after by my mother in the home. In 2005 she had to have a hip replacement and dad went into respite care. This was the start of a never ending nightmare, to cut a long story short he was abused, neglected, medication withheld and black eye within 5 weeks! We had tried to get social services to move him but the level of apathy was huge, eventually I admitted him to hospital and was told not to expect him to last the week!

 When we reported them to the complaints body out of 14 points raised 13 were upheld and 1 not proven. There are no criminal proceedings that can be brought against them and all have walked away scott free!! I have even brought this to my local MP who is appaled as we are that they should get away with it. We are just waiting to settle with their solicitors but that's not going to help.

 My dad is no laid in a nursing home bed being turned hourly, he can only whisper and has help to feed himself, all this within 5 weeks from walking into respite care on 1 stick and clean well shaven and a cheeky irish wit! My family is torn apart with what if's but we are coping but it has to stop! NOW!

If I and indeed our story can help we are more than happy to help

i'm a sheltered housing scheme manager and constantly make my tenants aware of the full implications of elder abuse. i ensur they have all the documentation on the definition of abuse and how to report it.

unfortuneatly in todays society and from reading above abuse still does occur.

i fully support this campaign and would be grateful if you could send me some literature to discuss at my next tenants meeting.

the address is :

hutton house

henry street

rochdale

ol11 1ep

thank you

thank you so much for the literature i promptly received today, it is now on display in my sheltered housing scheme for all my residents to see. i will also highlight your campaign at my next residents meeting.

 

good luck with the campaign

 

regards

susan

My 80 year old grandmother who is disabled through Rheumatoid Arthritis, partially sighted, hard of hearing, has bowel cancer and dementia has been a victim of severe financial abuse by my aunt and uncle.

My mother was my grandmother's primary carer for several years when my grandmother started to deteriorate mentally so that she lost her grip over her finances. My aunt (who has financial difficulties) persuaded my grandmother to take out a loan for £6,000 to buy my aunt a new car. My mother objected to this, but hoped my aunt would pay their mother back. My aunt did not appear to do this. There was a row between my mum and my aunt. My aunt then took my grandmother's cash card and chequebook and would not return it so that my mother and father could do the shopping as she had done in the past. Their brother, who had not been involved with the care of my grandmother, then stepped in and backed up my aunt. Soon after this my grandmother's will was changed. Social Services did not help at this point despite being told of the situation. They said they could do nothing as it was family. My mother also wrote to my grandmother's GP for him to do an assessment on her. My mother had to withdraw her care as she could no longer cope (my mother has arthritis herself). My aunt, who is a special constable, sent a policeman round to my mum's to tell her that her mother no longer wanted her to see her. We then did not feel it was a good idea to visit my nan at her bungalow after this as things were getting a bit nasty i.e. they were accusing my mum of harassment and sent her a nasty anonoymous birthday card. We then heard a few months later that my grandmother's bungalow was being sold. We again wrote to the Adult Protection Coordinator warning him that my aunt and uncle were selling her bungalow (my aunt was converting her garage and my grandmother was going to move in with her and live there) and we were fearful of them taking the proceeds for themselves. 

Later my aunt wrote to my mum, who she had been accusing of harassment towards my grandmother, that my grandmother was ill in hospital (she only did this because she was probably advised to by the police) with bowel cancer. My mum did not go in to see her but my sister did. My grandmother kept saying she was going back to her bungalow. My mum spoke to the hospital social worker - finally - some alarm bells went off - and she arranged an assessment and she was diagonosed with Dementia.

We then did a search with the PGO to find out if they were registering an EPA. We found out that they were by our own efforts. They were meant to send out a Notice of Intention to my mum.  In the letters to the PGO they said they did not send my mum one as she had an harassment order against her - not true!

We objected. They wrote a lot of lies in their letters to the PGO which we were able to disprove. The EPA was revoked because they were unsuitable to act as attorney's because as we found out during the hearing, they had "gifted" themselves 70k of her money (just two months before she had been declared mentally incapable) and my aunt was having my grandmother's generous pension of over 1k per month for her "keep".

A receiver has now been appointed and nearly a year later an investigation does seem to be underway. We are still writing letters to the receiver to jog him along, but he does seem pretty proactive. I hope that they are made to return her money to her and that they are investigated by the police. I think the main issue is capacity when she gave the gifts. We know she was not alright up until at least 2 and a half years before the gifts were made.

We are now able to see my grandmother, but only when she goes into respite, which is once every few months. She still thinks she lives in her old bungalow or is in denial. My aunt has told other relatives that we "upset" her when we see her, which is totally not true. My grandmother loves seeing us all. 

The more awareness out there the better. Unfortunately, even though there are adult protection procedures that social services are meant to follow, they don't. Not unless it is costing them money and only then will they do something. This could have been nipped in the bud if someone had taken action earlier. I do think my aunt and uncle were hellbent on having her money though and they saw an opportunity and took it. It is only my mum who spoke out against this. My grandmother's own brother has gone along with it, other relatives will not speak out as they are intimidated by my uncle or they do not care. Also, my grandmother's district nurse is a friend of my aunt, she even wrote to the PGO backing my aunt up, as did my aunt's colleague (in the Specials).

My grandmother still lives with my aunt in her house.

hi,

i am so glad there is this forum and thank you so much for offering the legal help. my beloved late nana has been the victim of financial abuse by her son, my so called uncle. he has stolen all her money and has caused her and us, her grandchildren, no end of upset and distress. following the death of my grandad, he became POA before my grandad died, and when telling nana of his passing, told her she had no money left and had to do what he said. there is a witness to this. it was not true my grandad worked very hard and saved carefully so that he could rest easy to know that she and he would be comfortable in their retirement. my uncle has withdrawn all her money paid off his mortgage, bought 3 new cars and holidays and stuck my nana in a home and did not tell us where she was. he would not answer the telephone or letters and communication has broken down. his own son alerted us to his spending but has since gone quiet, so we feel he has been "bought off" too and my uncle through his solicitor now claims there is nothing left and my brother has taken legal advice as he is the only one in the will. we were both supposed to share in our late fathers portion but my uncle and his family have denied us this, but what hurts more than that is the fact that he could do this to his own parents who have been there for him throughout the many crisis that he has had. the solicitor has said that what he has done is immoral but not illegal - how can that be? he has said that if it went to court and he lost it could cost £5000. unfortunatley i am not in a position as a mature disabled student to give him the money as i would have if i had it, but what i am struggling with is the awful thought that he might get away with it. our grandparents were two of the most generous, kind, caring people i have ever met. they were not snobbish and treated everyone with the same respect which is quite rare nowadays unfortunately. i just dont know how to deal with it. any suggestions?

thank you for all your good work

Our mother died on the 25th February this year.

She had been thrown out of her previous private care home 2 weeks earlier because we dared to complain about various aspects of her care, including neglect (leading to a Grade 4 bed sore), poor nutrition and general standards in the home.

We asked the local authority, who part-funded her care, to obtain a copy of her care plan. They tell us they are unable to do this as our mother's care plan is the home's "private property". When I checked with the information Commissioner I was told that the Freedom of Information Act does not apply to private care homes (surprise, surprise) and therefore there is nothing we can do to obtain a copy of her care plan.

We already knew that the Human Rights Act does not apply to private care homes, but we never knew care homes were also exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.

A private members bill introduced by MP Paul Burstow to amend the Human Rights loophole for private care homes has recently been thrown out by the House of Commons. The Lord Chancellor "expressed a concern that widening the meaning of public authority might drive private providers of services such as residential care out of the market for such services and so be counter-productive". We say "rubbish". Why should private care homes be exempt? Private prisons and other private bodies are not exempt from Human Rights.

 

This situation is a national scandal and a criminal disgrace.

We are about to launch a complaint against the care home with the local authority and the Commission for Social Care Inspection.

I am dreading this, as we firmly believe that there will be a "closing of ranks" amongst all the so-called care professionals, i.e. social services, the NHS, the care home and CSCI.

Has anyone been through a similar process themselves?

We would be very grateful for any information that will help us to fight for the injustice and neglect our mother suffered. Thank God she is finally at peace and no longer suffering at the hands of our inhuman care system. We, however, want to go all the way to see justice done, not just for our mother's sake, but for the countless numbers of other elderly people currently suffering the same fate.

Kind regards,

Marie Robson

What about taking this to the European Court of Human Rights?

 

 

Having worked with the elderly for almost 15 years, I have unfortunately witnessed first hand, many different forms of abuse and in many different situations.

 

I have worked in hospitals, nursing and residential care homes, specialist dementia care units, rehabilitation units and in the community.  Currently, I manage a residential care home for the elderly.

 

There are just too many incidents to go into great detail about on the forum, but if you wish to know about a specific area, please feel free to send me an email and I will be more than happy to share these with you. 

 

Obviously, I am unable to give names, dates, places or any other information that breaches confidentiality.

 

Charlyparly@googlemail.com

 

At present we are trying to get justice for my mum who was so cruelly taken advantage off by her very own daughter ,my so called sister and her husband. My dad died and mum decided to sell her home soon after and move in with my sister who was to build an annexe onto their property for my mum to live in. Myself and my mum had no reason not to trust my sister and brother-in-law as in the past they have always been very trustworthy. Up until now that is. It has come to light in the last year that after the sale of my mum's property my brother-in-law offered to put the money into the bank for my mum to gain interest.Mum having no reason to doubt him agreed.He managed to get her to sign a piece of paper (which he wrote out and the signiture does look like my mums but she is adamant that they never discussed anything about them transferring her money and she does'nt remember ever signing that paper) authorising the money be put into his and my sister's joint account which he then faxed to the solicitors and they accepted (which i find so hard to believe).All i can think of is the solicitors got to know him so well as he helped purchase the property with my parents.But still that does'nt justify them accepting a fax with my mum wanting to transfer all her money into their account).They then purchased a larger property (us in the meantime call it stupid if you will believed that they had used their own money to make the purchase of their new property) and my mum moved in with them.My mum then decided to get a place of her own again which they helped her do and with her thinking they were using her money. She did'nt settle so went back to live my sister and they again dealt with the sale of that property which we later found out was reposessed .Everyone was happy though my mum was still waiting for the annexe to be built .They told us they were waiting for planning permission.They started to struggle finacially and i got a call from my sister telling me she needed to find a large amount of money or they would loose their home. Thinking that my mum's money was in the bank  i told her to ask mum as im sure she would offer to help if my sister was that desperate . I then got the reply that she could'nt ask because they had used my mum's money already and that my mum knew about this. It turns out she knew nothing about this at all. At a time where my mum had just lost her husband and was grieving they had taken advantage of her. I realise now that it was wrong to sell the property so soon  after my dad's death even though she had said that is what she had wanted.I just went along thinking this was the right thing to do little did i know my sister and brother-in-law had plans. My mum has told me since that after the estate agent came the first day to take all the details to put the house on the market she was having doubts and my brother -in-law had told her she could'nt back out now as she would have to pay out alot of money and that he would often ask if he could borrow money. None of which she ever got back. knowing my mum will always help out if she can even though she does'nt have much herself  they seem to have taken advantage of this. These are two people who i but most of all my mum respected and thought so highly of and now when i look back it seems they only cared about themseves.My mum is now in a bedsit sheltered accomodation which she is grateful for but i know not happy as she feels confined.She never thought this is how she would end up.My sisters property got reposessed and went to auction. They are both working and renting a 4 bed accomadation She promised she would start paying my mum back but it is all broken promises as for her so called husband he is not interested and wont take no responsibility for what he has done. It was a very hard thing for us to do but we decided to go to the police and that is where we are at now. I hope for my mum's sake that they dont get away with what they have done. I think it is great that you are trying to make people aware of what goes on with starting this campaign. As we get older you do become vunerable and you should be able to trust people,especially your own family but it just goes to show you how people can change..Especially when money is concerned. Thanks for allowing me to tell of what we are experiencing at present and will keep you posted as to how we get on. 

Regards

Mary & Joanne

Hello Mary & Joanne
   I heard of a similar instance to the one you quote.  A man sold his house, was planning to move in with son and son would have an annexe built....it all went t*tzup. Dad was forced to eat off trays in his bedroom, wasn't allowed to join the family at meals, various unpleasant things happened and in the end Dad packed up what he'd brought with him and turned up at the local police station.  As he was a 'vulnerable adult' he had to be rehoused in sheltered accommodation.  It caused a bit of a stir at the police station because Dad had used some of the money from sale of his house to buy himself a new top-of-range car, in which he turned up asking to be rehoused.  Not your usual homeless!

I must take issue with what you say in your final remarks: 'as we get older you do become vulnerable'.  Vulnerable - how? I cannot imagine this happening to me because I have learned over the years and especially from some expensive mistakes I made along the way.  I'm unlikely to make any such mistakes over again!

You say 'it just goes to show how people can change, especially when money is concerned'.  I trust nobody where money is concerned - I have learned lessons from the past, and some of those mistakes involved family members.  I do trust one person, and it's my dear husband, but no one else, relatives or not.  I recall a conversation I had some years ago with a woman solicitor. She said 'You only have to sit behind my desk in this chair for a while and you see the very worst in human nature.  Loving family members can turn into ravening wolves when they get a smell of money'.  There's an old saying 'where there's a will, there's relations'.  If I die before my husband he knows that he will have to deal with them, and he is quite likely to tell them where to go in no uncertain terms.  He knows me better than anyone else alive, relatives or not, and he will deal with it all as he sees fit.