Elderly Care support Threshold - Implications of Gifting Savings to Drop Below it...

storage2012

Hope this is the correct location for this thread.

My 73 year old (retired) mum has Parkinson's disease and has recently started requiring regular care help in her home as she has worsening and somewhat severe mobility issues. We have been receiving this support for free (as per our local authority's policy, for 6 weeks) but we will soon have to be financially assessed to see if my mum should make a contribution toward it.

I believe the threshold of savings is approx £23,500 (i.e below which point the authority would continue to contribute) and my mum has approx £40k saved and an income of £650pcm or so, mainly from the state pension.

What are implications of gifting some of this money to bring my mum's savings under the threshold? Our current plan in summary is to:

Move approx £13k into my name, essentially a gift from mother to son.
We also thinking of spending around £4k on home improvements that are required (an powered armchair, stairlift, new garage door to allow easy access etc. etc.) in order to allow my mum to stay there for the short to medium term.

We were going to move / spend the money before the assessment took place, but obviously the movements will be somewhat visible (depending on what savings accounts become closed etc.).

Can anyone advise on what the likely implications of doing this are in terms of actually receiving support for continued care?
Will this gift be viewed unfavourably? Is there a limit to what can be gifted in these circumstances? How will it be viewed by the assessor?
Can anyone advise if there is a sliding scale of contribution, for those under this threshold, or whether a 100% contribution starts at the threshold?
Should we take a different course of action (perhaps gifting less of the money in smaller chunks, over a longer period of time)?

Any advice on this matter would be very gratefully received. We are very concerned that the initial likely bill over £500 per month (no doubt increasing more and more in the future), will soon haemorrhage my mum's savings and we want to make sure that we can make this money last as long as possible for her.

Thanks for your help, please let me know if you need any additional information.

le_loup

Look up Deprivation of Assets here and elsewhere.
Essentially it's not possible and quite rightly so.

margaretclare

I think the home improvements, easy-access, maybe a walk-in shower, chair, all the other things you suggested and anything at all to make her life easier, will be fine. Keep the receipts etc in case you're asked.

For the rest, moving money from her account to yours is a big no-no. As you've been told, it's called 'deprivation of assets' and it's illegal.

As for savings, there used to be a phrase 'saving for a rainy day'. This is the rainy day - it has arrived!

storage2012

Thanks for the help, that's pointed me in the right direction by giving the correct terminology.

I understand your comment of "quite rightly so" but I don't agree with it (and actually it was a bit unnecessary in this context). We're not talking about someone with £hundreds of thousands in assets, we're talking about a very frightened, increasingly confused, increasingly ill old lady who needs all the help she can get. Regardless, your help will help us operate in the best possible way within the boundaries and rules - we're not Starbucks.

Thanks again for the help.

storage2012

thanks Margaret Clare

Is it really illegal?

I can understand that it will still be counted toward the assessment, but "illegal", really? What law is being broken?

Thanks again.

storage2012

McKneff

I don't give a sh*t about the inheritance. I care about my mum.

Thanks for your kind thoughts anyway.

LEJC

there are limits on gifting I think it may be in the region of £3000 per year..

until the savings reach the £23500 threshold then the person will need to fully fund their care...below that amount they pay a portion and once funds reach I think around the £13000 mark they become fully funded.

Its not an easy situation...my mother is currently in a nursing home and fully funding her care,because of her life savings,and in the next few months she will I think fall into the 23 bracket...

At the stage your mother is at it sounds as if support may be arranged via a care agency initially who will come to the house and assist with tasks/meals and the administering of medication...my mum went down this route first and had 2 hours care per day split between 2 visits,costing around £600 per month.
It worked reasonably well and continued for about 2 years...as I mentioned shes now in full residential nursing and has been for the past 9 months,the cost of this is £725 per week....the cost of the package now means that the money is being used very quickly,and our thoughts initially were that we wanted to protect her money,but for what....she needs the care and actually has a very good standard of care,.....so whilst I agree in principle with your flustrations at the cost,I can assure you that the peace of mind that your loved one is being looked after is also very comforting.

Just to put it into a context,the savings my mother had were very similar to those you have stated for yours and a similar income too...although my mother was also in receipt of attendance allowance which you may find that your mother could also claim to help a little with her costs.Do ask as there are 2 levels of payments and might be worth around £300 per month if she were intitled to the higher amount.

You will also find that if the house is owned by your mother then this will also be taken into account as an asset and used in the calculation of payments.

grey_gym_sock

it is not illegal to give the money away. it is just that then the amount she would be expected to pay towards her own care would be assessed as if she hadn't given it away.

McKneff

storage2012 wrote: »

McKneff

I don't give a sh*t about the inheritance. I care about my mum.

Thanks for your kind thoughts anyway.

It came over in your post, what is with the 'we' will be assessed, it isnt 'we' it is your mother.

If you care about your mum accept the fact that she can afford better care for herself than that will be foisted on her in a council home.

And if you notice, I thought I had been a bit harsh so I actually deleted my post before I read yours.

grey_gym_sock

LEJC wrote: »

there are limits on gifting I think it may be in the region of £3000 per year.

no, there is no limit on giving per year. going over £3k may mean the gifts will increase the amount of inheritance tax eventually due, but this is only relevant for ppl with over £325k assets. and it doesn't prevent the gifts being made.

but that is a separate issue from "deprivation of assets".

You will also find that if the house is owned by your mother then this will also be taken into account as an asset and used in the calculation of payments.

i think not while she is living there. but it would if she were no longer able to stay there.

LEJC

GGS...yes you are correct about the house...I think I was perhaps moving on to the time that maybe the OP mother may not be able to remain in her home...sadly some people move quickly from car in the home to residential care,so its only fair to warn that there is the potential loss of that asset later.