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Elderly aunty,

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Comments

  • Mojisola
    Mojisola Posts: 35,571 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    lyndac40 wrote: »
    I am not sure how long it is going to take to find a suitable nursing home so her money just now is climbing up quickly.

    Depending on her health problems (as you say "nursing home" rather than "care home"), you may want to investigate NHS funding.

    It's not easy to get and may not be worth it just to save a few pounds but have a look at it.

    If no-one has got power of attorney for her and she is still capable of agreeing to it, that's a high priority.

    If she wouldn't mind, it would also be useful for someone she trusts to be able to see her will.
  • Hi mojisola,

    It will be a nursing home she has went down hill really fast and is totally unable to look after herself anymore. She had a fall a couple weeks ago and broke her hip and has had to go through a THR. We have power of attorney for her that was sorted out ages ago when she went into sheltered housing, I am glad we did it then as i say she has gone down hill rapidly in the past year. We are also waiting for the memory nurse coming out to assess her for dementia.

    At the moment she is in a community hospital boarding waiting on a nursing home becoming available.

    lynda x
  • Savvy_Sue
    Savvy_Sue Posts: 46,915 Forumite
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    lyndac40 wrote: »
    If I took say £3000 out of her account and paid for her funeral would that be seen as deprivation of capital if that's what u call it.
    When you ask that question, I'd a) make sure you've looked up where it says that pre-paying for a funeral is generally an acceptable use of capital and b) phrase it to make it clear that 'you' taking money out of her account is 'you, acting as her attorney'.

    I suggest a) because if you get someone at the council who's never heard of that, their automatic response may be 'of course you can't do that', whereas if you can refer them to an Age UK factsheet or similar, you're in a better position. However I would get their agreement in writing if you can.

    And b) because when I first read your post about pre-paying for her funeral I was slightly :eek: - of course now you've gone on to say you have PofA it's fine!!! But again, if you say to the council "is it OK if I withdraw money to pre-pay for my aunt's funeral?" it sounds well dodgy!
    Signature removed for peace of mind
  • Mojisola
    Mojisola Posts: 35,571 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Savvy_Sue wrote: »
    But again, if you say to the council "is it OK if I withdraw money to pre-pay for my aunt's funeral?" it sounds well dodgy!

    As you have POA for her, you need to show that anything you do with her money is for her benefit and not, say, to preserve an inheritance.

    Combine that with needing to show that you aren't spending money just so that she will become entitled to benefits and you can see how the LA might view it.
  • Just to clarify the assessment will assume she has a "notional income" of £1/week for every £250 in savings above the £14250. Self funding is only relevant if savings are above £23250 below that level she would be considered council assisted and not receive attendance allowance.
    You mentioned that she had two private pensions are these likely to be sufficient to pay her care home fees or is the council likely to also have to contribute?
    One issue you may need to address is that the council will only pay fees up to a standard support level for the level of care your aunt is assessed as needing. Each council sets these support bands each year and they are supposed to be at a level which is suitable in the local area, but they are often inadequate and some care homes will refuse to accept them or charge higher fees. You should note that in this event the council may ask you or other relatives to support your aunt with third party top-up fees (you may feel pressured to acceed but you are not obliged to do this). Your aunt cannot pay additional fees herself if below the £23250 savings limit. This issue may arise if you find your preferred care home but they charge higher than the council support bands. Please note that the council can only ask for 3rd top-up fees if they can demonstrate there is a care home able and willing to offer a place to your aunt at the councils standard level in the local area. If they cannot demonstrate this they are obliged to pay any additional fees.
  • I was in this situation a few years back and getting the "old age is not a disease, so just get this self funder bed blocker out of here" treatment.
    The difference was that, mainly because of the then new LPA law, I could not get power of attorney in the foreseeable future.

    The hospital digested this fact and realised it was able to provide care at one of its agreed rooms with BUPA.
    It seems there is an end of life care fund on which the NHS hospital can draw, when unable to get funding from the patient..

    Expect to get drawn into discussions about the difference between medical (nursing) costs and simple care costs.
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