paying for care home

scottiescott

Given that she has her own house it looks like should she have to go into a care home then the fees would be paid by a combination of her existing benefits (Pension, Pension Credit and Attendance Allowance) and money from the sale or rent of her house?

Mojisola

scottiescott wrote: »

Given that she has her own house it looks like should she have to go into a care home then the fees would be paid by a combination of her existing benefits (Pension, Pension Credit and Attendance Allowance) and money from the sale or rent of her house?

Yes.

AgeUK has a lot of good advice about choosing and funding a care home - https://www.ageuk.org.uk/home-and-care/care-homes/

Also this is worth reading - https://www.nhs.uk/CarersDirect/guide/practicalsupport/Pages/Chargingforresidentialcare.aspx

Errata

scottiescott wrote: »

Given that she has her own house it looks like should she have to go into a care home then the fees would be paid by a combination of her existing benefits (Pension, Pension Credit and Attendance Allowance) and money from the sale or rent of her house?

That's correct, and she may also be eligible for the Nursing Care contribution which IIRC is C£110 pw, or the Continuing Care funding which would cover all the fees - although the chance of this award being granted is vanishingly slim.
I have no idea how much her house would be worth, but the profit from the sale could be wisely invested so it gains a good interest rate.

scottiescott

Thank you Mojisola and Errata for your replies.
I'm a lot clearer now on what might happen in the scenario discussed.

Mojisola

scottiescott wrote: »

Thank you Mojisola and Errata for your replies.
I'm a lot clearer now on what might happen in the scenario discussed.

It's all very confusing at first. What I found worrying was that Social Workers and council staff don't always know the facts so it's worth reading up on it yourself and being prepared.

For example, I was told that he wasn't entitled to the "12 weeks' disregard" because he moved into the home from hospital before the SS funding panel had made a decision about whether he should be in residential care or having a care package at home. I was then told that I had to sign up to personally pay the top-up fees for those 12 weeks (Dad was in a home with fees higher than the LA contribution) even though he was self-funding.

I also had to challenge several invoices from the council that were demanding payment or else they would take action when Dad had a deferred payment in place.

SandraScarlett

I wish anyone trying to navigate the minefield known as Care Home Costs, the very best of luck! I'm knee deep in this myself at the moment, as DH's recent respite care has now been made permanent - he has Alzheimer's.


I came across, online, the Government's CRAG report ( to do with fairer charging for residential care). It's 118 pages long, but contains a lot of interesting sub sections regarding disregards.


Mojisola is quite right when saying that a lot of SWs and the LA don't know all the facts themselves. The first Finance Officer was, I suspect, a child on work experience, who had never even heard of the report!


xx

pollypenny

I had a similar experience when my father went into a home. The clerk told me that if my father self- funded, then ran out of money,,the council would not take over.

He kept talking about my mother.

Letters addressed to me kept referring to my father as Mr Penny!

Thankfully dad had a wonderful social worker, she was like a social worker to me, too!