NOK for aunt - responsibilities

elsien

You have no financial obligation at all.
If she is fully health funded then they pay.
If she is assessed as having some Health needs but only qualifies for the nursing top up then the local authority would take over. They would complete a care act needs assessment followed by a financial assessment to see if she is a self funder or her care is fully paid for or somewhere in between. They may sometimes ask for a third-party top up from a relative if the relative wants a different more expensive care home but this is voluntary and cannot be insisted upon. 

The local authority or health (depending on the funding) would also need to support her with her finances and arrange for someone else to take over if she lacks capacity. That someone else does not have to be you - most areas have a paid service that will step in.

Flakie

elsien said:

You have no financial obligation at all.
If she is fully health funded then they pay.
If she is assessed as having some Health needs but only qualifies for the nursing top up then the local authority would take over. They would complete a care act needs assessment followed by a financial assessment to see if she is a self funder or her care is fully paid for or somewhere in between. They may sometimes ask for a third-party top up from a relative if the relative wants a different more expensive care home but this is voluntary and cannot be insisted upon. 

The local authority or health (depending on the funding) would also need to support her with her finances and arrange for someone else to take over if she lacks capacity. That someone else does not have to be you - most areas have a paid service that will step in.

Thank you for this. That’s comforting to know. Just an additional question but looking to the future - I believe she has made a will and so has a solicitor- something I perhaps need to find out if I’m going to stay involved - if she has and that solicitor is executor of her will then they would presumably be responsible for dealing with things after she’s gone? And who would be responsible for packing up her flat before she dies should she stay in nursing care and not be able to return there?

elsien

Depends on her capacity. 

If she has capacity she would need to make the arrangements herself; again this is something you could help with if you wanted to/she wanted you to. Or if she can give consent, the local authority may have a service they can recommend which will help her to decide what to keep and to store/get rid of the rest, depending on her wishes and finances. Or she can make an LPA now and pass the responsibility on - solicitors often act as paid LPA for people if she doesn’t want family/friends  to, or they don’t want the responsibility. 

If she now lacks capacity around this issue then she may well need a financial deputyship if there is no LPA in place. Have you checked about LPA - there is a form on the OPG website if you do want to check. A deputyship can take months so the flat could just sit there waiting for the legalities to be completed. Does she own or rent the flat? 

If she is fully health funded then in my experience they are spectacularly bad at considering the financial side of things and do sometimes need a lot if prodding to have it on their radar. Other areas may be different. 

elsien

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/search-public-guardian-registers