Care Home Assesment - How much will council contribute to Care Home fees?

bambinaUK

My mother has been stuck in hospital for two weeks and due to her declining health because of a chronic illness can't go home at the moment. We have been trying to get her some respite care, but everywhere locally is full at the moment. So she is now considering moving into long term care and asking Social Services to re-assess her.

She lives in a rented property and has no savings.
Currently in receipt of housing benefit and attendance allowance.
Currently has a carer going in once a day, five days per week.

Does anyone know the maximum/minimum that our local council would be prepared to contribute towards care home fees? I don't want to get her hopes up or take her to visit anywhere that she will not be able to stay.

Darlyd

For that you will have to get her re-assessed by her (a) social worker. Be persistent though. Also perhaps ask for direct payments, so you can pick and choose the care provider, I am a care worker, and I have seen so much, it's unbelievable. People needing more than 1 carer for example and social services declining the need, which means client is stuck in one chair 24/7 as unable to move with one carer. Don't mean to scare you, but it happens. But they will pay towards the care, not sure if they will pay 100% though. Could your mum claim DLA to help towards the costs perhaps? And hire someone privately? (My current agency charge £14 per hour for 1 carer, and pay us minimum wage, thankfully I am changing jobs, where I get a lot more pay, but agency charges the client/ss the same).

Torry_Quine

If she has no savings and no property then the council will fund a care home place if Social Services assess her as needing to be in a care home. She will though have to pay the majority of her pension to the home and be left with approximately £22 a week for herself. She will no longer be entitled to AA as her care needs will be met by the home.

Pollycat

Hi
sorry to hear about your Mum.

This organisation (Counsel and Care) have some really good guides and factsheets about care homes.

http://www.counselandcare.org.uk/finding-and-paying-for-a-care-home

You might find Guide 19, Guide 16 & Guide 17 (assuming you are in England) useful.
It seems rules are different for Wales and Scotland as there are separate guides.

You can download them or ring them up and they'll send you copies.

ETA:
you might also find more information on your county council website

bambinaUK

Thanks for all the helpful advice.
I have just emailed her Social Worker and will get the ball rolling.
I didn't know about the Direct Payment thing and will look at her claiming DLA.

elmer

She cant claim DLA if she is over 65, it is replaced by AA Attendance Allowance if you are over 65, which I think you said she is already getting, but will stop if she goes into a residential home.

Elmer

lessonlearned

Going through something similar myself for my husband. You really need to speak direct to Social Service on this one get it straight from the horses mouth.

Does your mum have a designated Care Manager - that's your first port of call.

Apparently (I can only speak for England) there are two main types of care. Residential - which comes under SS and nurisng which comes under your PCT - Primary Care Trust. So the funding can be quite complex.

It might help to speak to the Welfare Rights people. These are usually attached to the hospital. I think you may need a referral from either your mum's Care Manager or the hospital should arrange this. They will be able to go through all the financial implications and offer best advice.

The hospital should be doing all sorts of assessments before your mum is released from their care.

If your mum could go home with care in place, the hospital will work with SS to arrange for a six week "Interim Care Package" to help your mum get back home. This six week period is usually free and won't affect her pensions, AA or any other benefits. This package can include carers, physio and occupational therapists.

Generally the thinking now is to encourage people to live independently as long as possible and remain in their own homes. There should be involvement with an Occupational Therapist to see about any equipment that would facilitate this.

Hope some of this helps - it is all very complicated and to echo one of the other posters - you do sometimes have to fight a bit and really persevere.

Good luck

puddy

ive never understood why AA is not paid to people in care homes

AA is the equivilent of DLA which has a needs based criteria.

a person in a care home is paying (by way of fully funded or partly funded) for their care. so if their needs meet the AA criteria why is it not payable, they are still paying for their 'AA' needs to be met. Even people having their care funded by the state still give over their pension to the home so are paying part of their care?

I dont get it

lessonlearned

This is how it was explained to me.

AA is paid to people over retirement age to help them buy in any help they need to remain in their own homes, ie their share of the cost of carers should they need to make a financial contribution. SS meets most of the cost of carers but the Care User will have to have a financial assessment to see if they need to contribute towards sthe cost of care. I believe the maximum they would have to contribute is currently set at £25 per week.

AA can be used in any way the user sees fit to enable them to remain in their own homes - eg my mum has a cleaner once a week, a hairdresser comes and does her hair because she can't manage to wash her hair. She can afford to use a tumble dryer because she can't manage to hang washing on the line. She can keep her home nice and warm. The money has made a huge difference to her quality of life.

If the user goes into a care home and is funded or part funded by SS then AA is discontinued because the care home is providing the care, either wholly or partly funded by SS. However if the user is self funding - paying entirely for their own care with no contribution from either SS or their PCT - then they can keep AA and their pensions.

Disability Living Allowance is paid to people under retirement age. It has two components - personal care and mobility allowance.

If the user has to go into care it is the personal care component which has to be discontinued - for the same reason that AA stops. The mobilty component remains - the user is deemed to need this - ie hospital appointments/dentist etc and being able to get out and about occasionally - assuming they are well enough.

This was explained to me just last Tuesday by someone from Welfare Rights so it should be accurate.

Hope that helps.

puddy

thanks, but they are still paying for personal care whilst in a care home, they give up all their pension and other benefits bar a very small amount which contributes to that care in some way?

just seems a bit unfair to me

lessonlearned

Sorry puddy - I edited my post because I realised I hadn't explained it fully.

I agree - being left with just £22 ish does seem a bit harsh.

Even if it's only seen as "pocket money" it's a bit insulting. Doesn't buy much these days. No way to treat an adult.

I've no problem with AA being discontinued - it is after all a state benefit.

However, I do not think that someones state pension should be confiscated.

I think the idea that the state pension is regarded as a "benefit" is totally wrong. It is not a benefit in my view, the recipient has paid for their pension through their contributions therefore it should be their by rights until they die. They've paid for it, it's not a "gift". Just my little hobby horse:D