Social Service Financial Assessment advice re Gifting a property back!

Kondongo

20 years ago my mother was in very poor health.  At that time she worried about Inheritance Tax and signed over her house to me. Happily, she confounded medical opinion and has survived.  She has moved address since that time and I sold the old property (I paid capital gains tax) and purchased a new more suitable one for her (a bungalow). 

She's kept generally healthy but over the last year has increasingly needed some personal care.  Her savings slipped below the £23,250 level, and she applied to the Local Authority for support with personal care.  They obviously asked her about her home and she informed them I own it (but she doesn't pay rent or buildings insurance, just daily household bills). I feel uncomfortable about the current situation and wonder if I should now transfer ownership back to my mother, so it can be clearly seen that this is now her asset (the initial transfer was for IHT issues not Care issues).  She's not (yet) looking for care-home support, just support at home.

Would it be wise for me to transfer ownership back (I understand I'd have some legal fees to pay, etc.)? Are there any other implications/costs I've not thought of? I can't sell the bungalow to help pay for her care costs because she still lives there and likes the community and her independence etc. Any advice welcome.

pmlindyloo

The financial assessment for personal care at home does not include the value of a property.

See here:

Financial Assessment for Care Explained | Age UK

So, any decision about transferring the ownership back to her need not be made now.

In the future, if she needs a care home then any property she owns would be taken into consideration.

The transfer happened 20 years ago - a long time ago and I am not sure whether this would even be looked at as deprivation of assets.

However, you are obviously feeling uncomfortable about this.

My suggestion would be wait to see if she needs residential care then you can make a decision.

Depending on the value of the house, selling it, if she needs residential care, might mean that she would be able to live her final time in a really good care home which you could choose.  



 

thegreenone

Does your mother get Attendance Allowance?  If she doesn't, it's worth it.  Not means tested and could help cover some help at home.

Kondongo

thegreenone said:

Does your mother get Attendance Allowance?  If she doesn't, it's worth it.  Not means tested and could help cover some help at home.

Yes, she already receives that, thanks.  Unfortunately, it only covers a small portion of her current home care, which is about £1800 a month at present.

pmlindyloo

Kondongo said:

thegreenone said:

Does your mother get Attendance Allowance?  If she doesn't, it's worth it.  Not means tested and could help cover some help at home.

Yes, she already receives that, thanks.  Unfortunately, it only covers a small portion of her current home care, which is about £1800 a month at present.

That seems tremendously high.

What personal care is she getting?

Is that amount before her savings dropped to below £23,250?

Is she getting any pensions?

Kondongo

pmlindyloo said:

Kondongo said:

thegreenone said:

Does your mother get Attendance Allowance?  If she doesn't, it's worth it.  Not means tested and could help cover some help at home.

Yes, she already receives that, thanks.  Unfortunately, it only covers a small portion of her current home care, which is about £1800 a month at present.

That seems tremendously high.

What personal care is she getting?

Is that amount before her savings dropped to below £23,250?

Is she getting any pensions?

Yes, I thought this was expensive too, but it works out at £18/hr and she does receive 4 visits each day, every day of the week. 

According to her care company manager, Social Services have agreed that she requires this level of support, although I don't recall Social Services making an actual assessment of her needs themselves.   I was surprised by the latter, as to my understanding some of this support seemed more domestic support (cleaning, washing clothes, making beds, and shopping, etc.) , rather than personal care per se (help with showering, dressing, preparing meals, and such).  Unfortunately, I live some considerable distance away from my mother's home and with her shielding for long periods over the last 18 months, most of our communication has been over the telephone.

My mother was receiving this level of care, just before her savings dropped below £23,250 - indeed, I contacted both Social Services and her Care Company to let them know I was very concerned she'd run into debt at the present rate of her savings depletion.

She receives a state pension, pension credit and attendance allowance. Currently, her monthly expenditure is around £3000 and, as stated above, just over half of this is directly attributed to her care bills.  Prior to needing care, at this level, she could readily manage (and even save a little) on half of this expenditure, as her pension etc. covered most of her daily costs and I obviously pay for building related bills, emergencies (e.g. washing machine replacement; garden maintenance). 

elsien

There is an legal obligation on the local authority to give a written copy of the needs assessment and support plan to the person, so they can challenge it if they disagree  or if they feel there are things missing. Or if there is some supper they wish to decline. 
If the person has substantial difficulty in being involved in the process (whether they have capacity or not) there should be an someone who is not a paid professional supporting them through the assessment process. That could be family, friends, or an advocate. 

Your mother is well within her rights to ask for the assessment and to see how they’ve arrived at the support level that she has. 

Have they redone the financial assessment now that they are aware her money has dropped? You can prod them into action via the complaints procedure if necessary. 

Kondongo

elsien said:

There is an legal obligation on the local authority to give a written copy of the needs assessment and support plan to the person, so they can challenge it if they disagree  or if they feel there are things missing. Or if there is some supper they wish to decline. 
If the person has substantial difficulty in being involved in the process (whether they have capacity or not) there should be an someone who is not a paid professional supporting them through the assessment process. That could be family, friends, or an advocate. 

Your mother is well within her rights to ask for the assessment and to see how they’ve arrived at the support level that she has. 

Have they redone the financial assessment now that they are aware her money has dropped? You can prod them into action via the complaints procedure if necessary. 

Thank you (and to everyone who has contributed advice/suggestions).  I'll certainly ask about the written copy of the assessment, and you made a very good about a paid professional (care company manager) 'assisting' the assessment process.  I did wonder whether, with the current pandemic issues, social services made their assessment simply on the basis of the care company's information.  Regardless, there should be written plan.

elsien

Have a look at 3, 4 and 5. 
Care Act factsheets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Care Act Easements due to Covid did not remove the legal duty for people to have adequate independent support during the assessment process, and very few councils enacted the easements to any degree anyway. 

Savvy_Sue

One possibility would be to look at the support being given, and see if some of it could be provided in a different way, for example independently hiring a cleaner / home help to give some of the domestic help. I don't know what the going rate for cleaners in your Mum's area is, and you'd need to make sure the boundaries are clear - eg if your mother needs help getting to the toilet, and was getting fewer visits from the carers, would that be a problem? 

However, it would increase the complexity, and as you're not local it might not be worth the risk. 

Kondongo

elsien said:

Have a look at 3, 4 and 5. 
Care Act factsheets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Care Act Easements due to Covid did not remove the legal duty for people to have adequate independent support during the assessment process, and very few councils enacted the easements to any degree anyway. 

That's really helpful again Elsie.  Thank you.