Care Home Costs In Scotland

HappySnapper7

My Father, living in Scotland, moved into a care home last year. Costs are £1400 PW, and it seems he's going to have to pay it himself!

His pensions come to around £2000PM, he has about £25,000 in savings, and the sale of his property would get him £100,000 - £150,000. While it seems a lot, it obviously will go quickly.

The council have said he isn't entitled to anything, so just checking if there were any other avenues?

[Deleted User]

Hi,

here's a bit of reading for you.

Malthusian

Have you looked into whether he would be eligible for NHS Continuing Care funding?

If not, it would be a surprise if someone with £175,000 in assets and income of £24,000 per year was entitled to help with basic living costs.

£1,400 per week will indeed exhaust his assets quite quickly and at £73,000 per year is very expensive, even by care home standards, especially for Scotland. Have you / he considered a cheaper care home? It might be better for him to accept a more modest standard of care in exchange for the security that he won't be forced to move to a LA-funded home after a couple of years. That could mean not just a dramatic decrease in standard but a potentially more traumatic move when his health may have deteriorated after a couple of years.

It might be spilt milk but it does seem a bit strange that somebody would move to a care home costing double the average when their assets and income clearly can't sustain it.

Torry_Quine

Does he claim Attendance Allowance?

HappySnapper7

Thanks for the replies I wasn't in charge of arranging his care, but it was thought he'd get half of it paid, which obviously isn't the case. It's a thought re changing where he lives now.

Torry - He was on it but he's not eligible now

Torry_Quine

HappySnapper7 said:

Thanks for the replies I wasn't in charge of arranging his care, but it was thought he'd get half of it paid, which obviously isn't the case. It's a thought re changing where he lives now.

Torry - He was on it but he's not eligible now

Why not? If you're self funding then you're still able to claim it.

HappySnapper7

Didn’t realise re attendance allowance. Thanks I’ll look into it.

Rambosmum

Yes, definitely consider changing homes now - it is much better done sooner rather than later. He isn't currently eligible for any funding support (unless from a private charity), and won't until his savings reach the upper limit, at which point it'll be a sliding scale of support. At no point will they fund the full £1400 though and the rest will need to be paid via third party - if there isn't a third party then he will be forced to move to a cheaper home. 

£1400 is an extremely expensive care home, LA funding is typically around £500 (varies by authority) and whilst not all areas have homes which charge this amount lots do and the care is good. More money doesn't always mean better care. I work in older adults social services and we get similar volumes of safeguarding referrals from the expensive homes as the cheap ones, it depends very much on the culture of the home and management, not the price point. 

changing_ways

If you've been told he's not eligible for attendance allowance now but was previously, that suggests he's receiving at least free personal care money from the local authority. The only reason the local authority wouldn't provide the free personal and/or nursing care would be if he had turned it down or if they had assessed him as not needing care. So it would be worth establishing exactly what the situation is. (The system is quite different in Scotland from England by the way.)

It would also be worth checking what would happen when his money runs out. My relative's Scottish care home was a charity which let residents stay on at the local authority rate (funded partly by the local authority and partly by pension income) when their savings reached the threshhold . This was a lot less income for the home as the self funded rate is higher.

Mojisola

Rambosmum said:

More money doesn't always mean better care. I work in older adults social services and we get similar volumes of safeguarding referrals from the expensive homes as the cheap ones, it depends very much on the culture of the home and management, not the price point. 

I second this.  We looked round several local care homes before we found one that suited Dad.  Several of the more expensive ones seemed to us to be keener on looks rather than care - Dad didn't want or need somewhere that was like a 5-star hotel but had fewer carers per resident (and quite a high staff turnover).

He settled very happily in a home that put an emphasis on staff numbers and retaining staff (many had worked there for years) - it didn't look as smart as the more expensive ones but it was a relaxed, happy place to live in.

HappySnapper7

Thanks again folks for the replies.
I think we're stuck where we are now, as my dad is settled, and any upheaval would be really confusing for him, but it is worrying a couple of years down the line.
At the time  he went in it was a matter of urgency, as things took a turn for the worse back home. I think we wrongly believed  we'd get half of it paid, but I don't know how we ended up with the dearest place in town!

The home seems okay, and staff are decent, but I certainly don't think it's worth the money!