EXCLUSIVE: War hero, 96, faces being forced out of his home due to care cash scandal
ONE of Britain’s oldest surviving prisoners of war faces being forced into a care home against his will after a Labour council refused to pay for his home help.
Robbie Clark, 96, has spent more than £50,000 of his life savings to pay for 24-hour care at his home in Burnt Oak, north London.
Now the veteran, who was one of the British soldiers who survived Hitler’s 1,000-mile death march across Europe in 1945, only has enough money to last another three months.
His family said he may have to sell his home and they fear being in a care home would kill him.
Mr Clark, a father of two with four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, said: “I have been in my own place all my life.
“I have got everything here.
"My family are near and my friends are near.
"I am nice and comfortable here and I’d not get that in a care home.
“If I lived in a care home I would lose a lot of my freedom.
"It would remind me of being a prisoner of war.”
Mr Clark’s son Mike, 58, has been in a two-year battle with Brent Council over funding his father’s care since the pensioner lost the use of his legs after a heart operation in 2012.
Brent Council solicitor Fiona Bateman said in one letter: “The local authority believe it is entirely correct that residential care remains the preferred option to ensure that Mr Clark has access to 24 hour care and support that he requires.
"Mike Clark would prefer his father to continue to reside at home; he has stated that he fears a move into residential care could shorten his father’s life.
"No evidence to support this... has been provided.”
A 24-hour carer and additional hours care cover cost around £1,000 a week.
Brent pays around £350 a week, with Mr Clark, a carpenter, originally from Gateshead, making up the difference.
If I lived in a care home I would lose a lot of my freedom. It would remind me of being a prisoner of war
Mike Clark said Brent has said their “preferred option” is to have his father in a care home which will cost only £451 a week.
He said: “My wife and I may to have to take out a mortgage in order to keep him at home.
“He would then have to sell his home to pay for the care place.
“He would see it as a prison.
"For him his life has been about fighting for freedom.”
Ibrahim Taguri, Liberal Democrat prospective candidate for Brent Central, said: “Robbie Clark is a national hero and former POW.
“Who are these petty-minded local government pen-pushers to tell him and his family where he can and can’t live?"
Simon Bottery, director of policy of pensioner support group Independent Age, said: “Councils cannot force someone with mental capacity to go into a care home.”
Cllr Krupesh Hirani, Brent Council’s Cabinet Member for Adults, Health and Wellbeing, said: “I do empathise hugely with Mr Clark and his family, but under current circumstances, with current legislation and the current levels of government funding and support, there is little more that the council can do.
“Placing our residents into residential care is always a last resort and only considered once all other possible and sustainable options have been considered, including providing extra care.
“We have been in regular contact with the family over the past two years, who we know are unhappy with the situation and reported the case to the Local Government Ombudsman, who agreed with the council’s position on this case, and that Mr Clark’s needs would be safely met within residential care.
“This remains the most appropriate option, by which the care that Mr Clark requires can be provided on a 24 hour basis, in the most cost-effective way, and that offer remains on the table should he wish to head down that route.
“However, taking into account the wishes of Mr Clark and his family for him not to live in a care home, we have offered the money which the council would spend on his care home space, an amount of £450 per week, to be paid directly to him so that he can spend it on making his own care arrangements, if that is what he wants to do.
He added: “This case simply highlights the urgent need for wider health and social care reforms, so that we can have a system that is fit for the twenty-first century."
The council added that if it paid for Mr Clark's care it would be something that would have to apply to all of Brent’s 2,900 social care recipients, which would end up bankrupting the council.
