"Council tax exemption - Support from CMHT"

My mother was diagnosed with Primary progressive aphasia. This is a rarer form of dementia.  This was an extremely stressful time for my mother and the family.  One of the things we were advised by the community mental health team was that my mother would be exempt from council tax. We contacted the local council and received a severe mental impaired form. This was completed and endorsed by the CMHT and returned.

We were then advised tdhat to receive this my mother had to be in receipt of another benefit.  She was not in receipt of any benefits so we had to make an application for attendance allowance.  We kept South Lanarkshire Council informed throughout of what we were doing as my mother was continuing to receive letters for council tax payment.  We were surprised when this was then passed to a sheriff officer and debt collection service.  These letters contain a lot of red writing and only exacerbate individual and carer stress. 

We contacted them and explained to them an application had been made for attendance allowance and they agreed to put a note on the system until January 2023. There was a backlog in processing applications.  By the time the DWP eventually processed this , the debt collectors were back in touch with another letter stating that South Lanarkshire Council had instructed them to pursue the outstanding accounts.  It said to make immediate payment on this date. Again the letter was covered in red writing.  My mother is in a fortunate position that she could settle this and to ease the stress this was causing , so we decided to settle this.

I worry about the many people who can't do this and what these letters do to their mental health at this extremely difficult time. We have paid this and will now have to claim this back. We finally got a copy of the award letter for the entitlement of the attendance allowance, dated back to September 2022.

We contacted the council tax at South Lanarkshire Council to ask where we send a copy of the award letter to be informed we have to complete another severe mental impaired form. This means that we yet again have to go back to the CMHT to endorse the form.

I believe that we are now in a health and social care partnership.  I believed that this would mean that communication between two big organisations like these would be greatly improved. 

Maybe I'm wrong, but surely at the point of diagnosis of dementia, communication could be made between both organisations?  A note could be put on the system to prevent further charges and to reduce further carer stress and anxiety. 

This whole process has only added stress to everyone involved