Care home fees and deprivation of assets

sleepless_saver

First time poster recommending a company.:spam:

Pollycat

Sounds like a company along the same lines as the ambulance-chasing 'have you had an accident recently?', 'we can get your PPI refunded', 'we can help with your debts' etc etc.

It's easy to say glibly:

If the person's main need for care is a health need then the fees should be met by the NHS.

but it's a lot harder to get the NHS to agree that someone satisfies the CHC criteria.

There's a long thread about CHC (Continuing Health Care) here, some people have been fighting the NHS for years.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/800521

I agree with sleepless saver - it's spam.

franknapier

Very sorry that some of you have decided that I am spamming simply beacuse I am a first time poster. I am new to this but simply wanted to help anyone else in a similar situation to mine. I was previously uaware of the criteria for Continous Healthcare and my family simply accepted that our relative did not qualify fo funding. Hope we can sometimes give people the benefit of the doubt!

Pollycat

Hi Frank
At what stage of getting CHC for your relative are you?

What is the basis for your relative qualifying for CHC?

Can you explain in a little more detail how this company have helped your family towards getting CHC status for your relative.

naspencer

Don't worry too much about deprivation of assets. You are allowed to give people gifts - it is not fraud as most people will never need care.The local authority system for financial assessmant was pretty basic in my experience.The staff were all very helpful though and all I think you can do is just be honest with them. Anyway, if the relative has over £23,000 in savings, it will not be relevant as he will pay for his own care. But do remember, he will be entitled to his state pension and attendance allowance at the higher rate as well as any company pensions which will pay towards the weekly cost. He also sounds likely to be entitled to nursing top-up of about £100 per week. He should also beassessed for NHS Continuing care - my Mother has just got it! (Then all care is paid for by NHS) - the need for oxygen continually may indicate this is a possibility.

getmore4less

No one ask a key question on the IHT front.

If the total, house(currently in use) other assets gift in the last 7 years are under £650k(2 allowances) you can forget any IHT issues.

franknapier

Hi Pollycat,

We are currently going through the process with carehomepayments. We are putting in a retrospective assessment for CHC and have been told it can take a while for the whole process, as we have to re-open the case and it can get very technical, in legal terms.

Our basis for applying retrospectively for CHC is that at the time Alzheimer's was classed as a "social need" by the local authority, not a health need, and so did not qualify for CHC. It has now been recognised as a serious health condition and this is the basis for the reassessment.

Have a good day

margaretclare

I know he's already bought some Christmas gifts for family members and will be planning to give children/grandchildren cash if this all amounts to several hundreds of pounds and the deprivation of assets test happens within the next 6 months will they have to give the money back? surely not the presents?

I think things are getting to a ludicrous state when people really have to consider giving back Christmas presents.

There is an awful lot of misinformation out there, ill-informed what might be called 'pub talk'. And yet there is more information available than there ever was, not only on this site but in newspapers, magazines or a few clicks online.

Pollycat

Frank
it's a long thread in the link in my earlier post to the "Continuing Health Care - Preparing to fight PCT's decision" threadbut it makes interesting reading.

Just out of interest - how does this company get paid for the work they are doing for your family?

Do they work pro bono, charge a flat fee or take a percentage of what amount they recover?