A Warminster woman has made an appeal to Wiltshire Council over the future of her son’s care.
Donna Jones’s son Darren, who has autism, currently lives at The Willows, a residential home in Warminster for adults who have learning disabilities and complex needs.
Care provider Autonomy Life has requested an uplift in funding from Wiltshire Council to continue the 30-year-old’s living arrangement. But Donna has been told the local authority has plans to move Darren out of Warminster and into a supported living unit in Devizes.
Donna said, “It was July last year I first had a call with Darren’s care provider who said they need to uplift the cost of his care. His weekly fee for specialist support should be £6,000 compared to £4,000 currently paid for by Wiltshire Council.
“The provider is more than happy to keep Darren at The Willows if the funding shortfall is met.
“Things like this are happening to families and vulnerable people from across the country. I know funding is not what it used to be and that makes things difficult, but leaving Warminster would be so hard for Darren. I’m terrified.”
Darren was served notice of eviction in October and, initially, it was expected he would have to move to Devizes by the end of 2024.
Donna recalled, “We put up his Christmas decorations at the start of December, not knowing if they’d be there until Christmas or not. The council has delayed his eviction month on month.”
Currently, Donna lives with her youngest daughter, who also has autism, just five minutes from The Willows. The mum-of-five has fibromyalgia – a long-term chronic pain condition – which means she often relies on a mobility scooter.
She said, “Warminster is Darren’s home. One of his carers at Willows has been with him for 12 years, one of the others is also wonderful and really understands him. People across Warminster know Darren as he loves to walk around the town.
“The stress of this is taking a toll. I’ve got my daughter to think about as well, if I go down my ship goes down. I’ve started to share videos on TikTok to try and spread the word.”
In a statement, Autonomy Life Limited said terminating placements is “an absolute last resort” and added, “We work very closely with families to try to ensure that placements can be maintained, but the reality is that longer term placements don’t receive cost increases in line with inflation and uplifts in the national minimum/living wage.
“We have done our utmost to negotiate a resolution to this issue over many months but to no avail and have had no choice but to regrettably serve notice on placements that we would very much prefer to keep. We are very sorry for this outcome and would welcome a reconsideration of the funding decisions taken in these cases.”
Cllr Gordon King, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, explained Wiltshire Council wanted to minimise any disruption and keep families informed in a situation such as this.
He said, “In some cases a move may be from residential to supported living. Supported living offers individuals greater financial independence and can often retain key disability benefits which are often reduced or unavailable in residential care.
“We understand how people can feel settled in accommodation, however where care providers are asking for a disproportionate increase, we must challenge this as we have to ensure our care budgets are properly managed and everyone is fairly funded.
“We cannot comment on individual contractual arrangements, but in general terms our rates are competitive and regular meetings are held with all of our providers, and where contractual arrangements are brought to an end we will focus on the residents.”
