Care Home Fees

saintetienne

In a quandry with this and hope someone can shine a light.

My mother who is 81 was at home until recently when after a fall she was hospitalised - I was hoping she would return home but at the moment she has been put into "respite" care . She has a reasonable pension package which was being used when she was at home to cover costs and carers etc , the problem we have is now it appears that bigger costs are going to occur - the house she lives in jointly owned by myself and her in a tenants in common trust arrangement . How does this stand when taken into account in her forthcoming care costs ?

tia

monkeyspanner

I assume you do not also live in the house. The treatment of the house as an asset will depend on the nature of the tenants in common arrangement. It is possible the council may try to treat part of the house value as your mother's assets. If this is the case they may offer a deferred payment option. This would be advantageous to your mother in two respects.
1. No interest accumulates on the deferred fee arrangement.
2. If the council arrange your mothers care home they will probably get better care rates than she would as an independant self-funder.

It is also possible that the trust arrangement may avoid the house being assessed as an asset. But you would need specialist advice on this.

If your mother has assets over £23250 other than the house she will still be self funding until this savings limit is reached. If self-funding remember to claim attendance allowance as this benefit is non-means tested.

If under the £23250 savings limit the council will support her care to I think one of 4 standard support levels but you mum will contribute all bar about £20 weekly allowance and will have to contribute her state pension. Attendance allowance would cease after 28 days in the home in this circumstance. The point to watch out for is that many of the care homes which will accept the councils meagre support levels are not the best and you may find yourself wanting a particular home but being asked for 3rd party top-ups as the homes fees are higher than the support levels. Think very carefully about signing a 3rd party top-up agreement as it is an open ended commitment.

Your best bet is to read up on the rules on one off the charity sites. a good one is https://www.counselandcare.org.uk who have a good fact sheet on paying for care.

saintetienne

Thanks for the reply - I have arranged to see my solicitor to check the full implications of this and will read up from the link you kindly provided . Savings are under the threshold , I stay at the house occasionally and use storage and parking there but don't live there permanently.

saintetienne

An update - I have taken legal advice and a letter has been written to the council, but I am still puzzled by things - I was told that this would be re-assessed after the 12 week period but I have had a letter asking for payment from day 1 - this is a minefield , are there any places I could call or visit to see what's what as I am not sure where we stand .

cheers

Mojisola

Have you been in contact with AgeUK?

It's worth reading up the articles on their website, too.

monkeyspanner

Is the 12 week period what was decribed as respite care in your first post? Or are you referring to a 12 week disregard period where the value of the house is disregarded from the assessment whilst being marketed for sale?

Mojisola

saintetienne wrote: »

An update - I have taken legal advice and a letter has been written to the council, but I am still puzzled by things - I was told that this would be re-assessed after the 12 week period but I have had a letter asking for payment from day 1 - this is a minefield , are there any places I could call or visit to see what's what as I am not sure where we stand .

There is a 12 week disregard but it only applies up to the rate that the LA will pay for residential care. If the care home fees are higher than this, then you will get a bill for the difference.

saintetienne

Thanks for the replies .

The hospital had requested her to go into respite for a few weeks - so I will need to check the timescale they were referring to (they gave me a letter saying they were awarding £108.70 a week to the nursing home for her) . Yes , I think the LA only want to pay a percentage in this initial 12 week period . I will contact age uk as this is turning out to be a full time job !

thanks again and I will upodate as things happen .

TableTop

As you probably know, £108.70 is the weekly amount paid by the state to cover the cost of nursing care. It is paid directly to the care home, and I think it is re-assessed every 3 months. That leaves personal care, and the 'hotel' costs - room, food etc. - to be paid for by your mother unless her assets are below the [FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]£23,250 [/FONT]threshold. Age UK has good information.