Help with care home funding

bryanb

Care homes can often be little better. eg. Get up & dressed 10.30am, breakfast finished 11am, Lunch 12.30pm, Tea/supper 4pm, to bed 6pm. Therefore can be 16hrs in bed.
Staffing levels dictate timings, they obviously cannot deal with everyone simultaneously. The number of disabled/dependent clients is often too high for the typical staffing ratio of 20+ to 3 staff. I know this ratio is against the regs, but it frequently happens.
If you reach the stage of looking for care for mum, don't make appointments to see homes, turn up unannounced preferably at a meal time. Then you will get a truer impression of standards.

monkeyspanner

It sounds like your Mum could do with some time in an NHS rehab facility. This would allow her medical conditions to be assessed, medications adjusted and physical rehab attempted. My MIL had 3 periods in a facility like this and they did extend the time she could manage independantly in her own home. Access to the facility was via Doctor referal and/or hospital discharge.

You mention daily care visits and poor time keeping. Does your Mum's Social Services offer the direct payment system. If they do, you could take over the arrangement of care and find an alternative more reliable service provider. Downside of this is that the admin side can be complicated and your Mum will probably pay more for the same number of hours care.

I wouldn't expect much support from Social Services especially regarding a move to a care home. They are unlikely to consider this unless your Mum wants to

In answer to your queries about care home funding.

12 Week Disregard - The council has to assist funding for the first 12 weeks(whilst a property is sold) but you should be aware that all of your Mum's income except a small weekly allowance of about £20 will be put towards the cost of the care home during this period. So your Mum would contribute about £970 per month towards her care home fees. Plus the council will expect the house to be actively marketed.

Savings - Your Mum will not be permitted to give away any significant amount of money received from the sale of the house or any other savings. This is considered a deliberate deprivation of assets and the council will expect all funds to be effectively available to fund your Mum's care home fees. The council will not involve themselves in funding the care home until the savings reduce to the maximum savings limit(about £22000).

Different care home fees for council supported and self funding residents - This is common practice for care homes and can be a significant difference. For example my MIL pays £415 per week as a self funder and the council rate for the same level of care is £314. For this reason some people opt not to sell the house and defer payments, the council put a charge on the property but this is at the lower council fee rate.

If you need more info try this site www.counselandcare.org.uk