Dad moved to care home is he still a taxpayer?

naspencer

(I've just lost the reply I spent half an hour typing up for you!:mad:Here goes again!)
So sorry for your situation - I've just been through the financial assessment procedure with my Mum. (Alzheimers, too) Does your Dad have any private pension? Only he can give half of it to your Mum. My mother has some pension. I have been able to give half of it to my Dad to pay the top up with!
In our case, (Worcs County Council) the attendance allowance ceases, but the state pension and private pensions still go into Mum's bank account. The financial assessment calculates the pensions plus a "tariff income for savings"( an amount based on the savings over £15,000 designed to whittle them down to that amount over time - currently £35 per week for Mum)and then deducts the 50% paid to my Dad and the personal expense allowance of £22.30 per week( for clothes and haircuts etc) to come to a figure I then have to pay the care home. The council then pay the balance of the care home costs to the home. I have control over the allowance money to get whatever my Mum needs. ( The bank account is now called "my name reciever for my mum's name") - just take the Power of Attorney (POA) document in to a branch. Be prepared for staff to get things wrong - few people understand POA. Also, Halifax would not let me have online accesss to the bank account.:mad: They said it was not allowed legally/ government rules - don't know if this is really true.
Councils can't make anyone pay anything for your dad's care, although payment of a top up may be worthwhile to get him into a better home, as you say. But don't let anyone sign to pay for anything they are not sure about. Unscrupulous councils may try to get you to do this.
If you Dad needs nursing care, he could go to a nursing home and get £100 per week approx of nursing allowance, although the weekly rate will be more. My Mum has got much better care at her nursing home than she did at her previous care home. ( She gets £550 per week's worth of care instead of the £450 per week's care she had previously - the allowance paying the difference)
Is there anything else you need to Know?

naspencer

I've just re read the other posts. In our case, my Mum's home is just slightly over the £425 that the council will pay (after the nursing allowance) , so the top up is not too bad. It's not a "posh" home, but the Matron is lovely and the staff never raise their voices at the patients and are really caring. Mum is being moved to a smaller room without en-suite - she can't use it anyway as she is immobile. This reduces the top-up.

naspencer

Me again! Age Concern website has lots of info about finances. Alzheimer's Society website and forum are also good. Hope you can get everything sorted so you can concentrate on supporting your parents.

tiptoes27

Thanks so much for all the information. It is a very difficult time and the system just makes it worse.