Care home top up fees - worried about the cost

Lovelyjoolz

I'm not sure that this is the right place to post this, but I'm obviously not very good at the search function because when I search for "care home" it brings up every single thread that mentions the word "care" and the word "home" which seems to be almost every thread on the whole site!! :rotfl:

Anyhow, here's the situation: Elderly Granny has been deemed by Social Workers unfit to return to her home and must go into Residential Care. My Parents have been told that they must pay the top up fees, which is OK as long as the paperwork for the home we've found is done quickly because the top up is only £20 p/week. However, there is only one room left and it's first come first served and, if the paperwork isn't done in time the only other home that will take Granny has top up fees of £350 p/week!!

My parents are pensioners themselves and only have their pension as income so I'm worried about how they will afford these top up fees. What help can they get? Will they have to take out loans? Can the council put a charge on their house to cover the top up?

Can anyone here advise us? I'm so worried.

Grumpelstiltskin

You may be better posting it in this section.


http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=26

PasturesNew

They won't get help. But, granny has incomes of her own I presume?

£20/week isn't a great deal to find - are there other children of granny who could chip in?

£20/week between two people is doable just by finding a way to make an extra £10/week each .... even if they were to (say) offer a service of taking in parcels for locals, or feeding cats.

Lovelyjoolz

Granny has her old age pension, but the council will take that from her when she goes into the home. She will be allowed £23.50 per week for her incidental expenses and that's all. Plus, legally, she is not allowed to pay her own top up fees.

There is no one else to help. My Dad is an only child and Granny has managed to alienate her late-husbands family to the point that they will not help no matter what (and I would be too embarrassed to even ask them tbh).

£20 p/week is ok. What's worrying me is that the Social Worker is taking so long to do the necessary paperwork that the one remaining room in that home might be gone before it's done. We will then be looking at the only other option which will be £350 p/week top up fees.

How does a 70 year old disabled pensioner earn themselves an extra £1500 per month? He would need to be earning over £20k per year to have enough left over after HMRC take 20% tax.

How do people do this? Accoring to the Social Worker, this is the way it works for everyone, so there must be thousands of pensioners earning money to pay for their parents residential care. I'm hoping they come on here and can advise us!!

Trebor16

Joolz,

See my reply to your post in the over 50's section. Your parents have no legal liability whatsoever to pay the top up fees.

Trebor16

Lovelyjoolz wrote: »

How do people do this? Accoring to the Social Worker, this is the way it works for everyone, so there must be thousands of pensioners earning money to pay for their parents residential care. I'm hoping they come on here and can advise us!!

The social working is lying, plain and simple. They do it all the time.

Gavin83

Yeah it's crap. Top up fees aren't essential.

Social Services have a responsibility to fund the entire cost of care for a resident. However, it does reduce your demands, you can't insist on a certain home for example. They can basically place her anywhere that will accept their standard fee, regardless of the quality.

If you specifically want that home and can afford the £20 a week I'd recommend taking this option. If you just want her placed anywhere then let the council sort it.

Mojisola

Gavin83 wrote: »

If you specifically want that home and can afford the £20 a week I'd recommend taking this option.

I would think very carefully about this. The responsibility is similar to being a guarantor for a debt - your parents will have to pay whatever the top-up fee is for as long as your Gran lives. It certainly won't stay at £20 a week and they could find it very difficult when they only have pensions as income.

What happens if one of your parents died before Gran - the survivor would be left trying to pay a top-up fee out of a single pension!

If the home your Gran gets put in isn't good - keep kicking up a fuss until it improves or SS move her somewhere else.

Morglin

Your parents have no liability - tell SS to do one.

They have to support granny if she cannot afford it out of her own income. So do not let your parents get sucked into agreeing to pay anything.

Rest assured - SS won't leave granny on the streets!

Lin

Mojisola

Lovelyjoolz wrote: »

My parents are pensioners themselves and only have their pension as income

Off topic - but also look at your parents' situation and see if they are entitled to Pension Credit.

Trebor16

Gavin83 wrote: »

If you specifically want that home and can afford the £20 a week I'd recommend taking this option. If you just want her placed anywhere then let the council sort it.

The problem with this, as Mojisola has pointed out, is if care home fees increase then so will the top up fees. £20 a week could soon become 30 or 40. Think very carefully indeed before agreeing to any form of top ups, especially as your parents have no legal liability.