Home care

Sterlingtimes

I am now a pensioner (age 66) making arrangements for my pensioner mother (age 94). My mother receives four weeks of home care at public expense following a fall and hip fracture. Beyond four weeks she will have to pay for her care because her savings are more than £23,000.

The price of care appears to be in the order of £20 an hour outside of London. Does a 15-minute visit count as an hour, allowing for the travel time of a carer? Can a visit be priced for less than an hour?

Keep_pedalling

A visit can be charged at less than 1 hour but travel costs will be included so it is really going to come down to location. 

If this is going to be a long term requirement then she should be able to claim attendance allowance to help with care costs.

Has your mother put a lasting power of attorney in place? If not that is something she really should not delay doing.

missile

You are unlikely to get anyone who will work for less than 1 hour slot, would you?
You might get better/cheaper if you can employ a carer directly rather than via your current care provider.

Sterlingtimes

Keep_pedalling said:

A visit can be charged at less than 1 hour but travel costs will be included so it is really going to come down to location. 

If this is going to be a long term requirement then she should be able to claim attendance allowance to help with care costs.

Has your mother put a lasting power of attorney in place? If not that is something she really should not delay doing.

Thank you. I am trying to work many things out at the moment. It is like a full-time job.

I rather thought that each visit might cost £20. 

I will have a look at Attendance Allowance and try to assess whether it is means tested. My mother has an accumulation of disorders: severe macular degeneration, a fix hip fracture, pulmonary embolism, atrial fibrillation and postoperative cognitive decline. I wonder whether that would hit the Attendance Allowance threshold.

The power of attorney was put in place long ago. I now have 21 days to wait for a fully effective copy. My mother can sign cheques for now.

elsien

Attendance allowance isn’t means tested.  It’s based on care needs and levels of support rather than diagnosis. The higher rate, I think, is for people who need help day and night but it sounds likely that your mother would at least get the lower rate. 

Sterlingtimes

missile said:

You are unlikely to get anyone who will work for less than 1 hour slot, would you?
You might get better/cheaper if you can employ a carer directly rather than via your current care provider.

No, I would not work for less than a full one-hour payment. On the other hand, the agency does well if it can charge two patients each for one hour of work and then pay the carer for one hour. I do appreciate this advice. I will provisionally budget for £20 an hour.

Albermarle

I think normally the carer will get Minimum wage, or just a little bit more. The agency will charge £20 and pay the carer some travel costs ( not that generously normally) and pay employer NI, pension contributions where necessary, manage rotas/holidays/sick leave etc  and train staff to at least a minimum standard. Plus make a profit of course. 

If you employ one directly it could work out cheaper but brings more responsibility . Plus if they leave there is no back up.

You should get a full hour, but normally the carers are on a tight timetable and inevitably will sometimes arrive late, and/or leave early if they have done what they need to do. 

The above is only in my experience and no doubt there will be different experiences. 

Sterlingtimes

Albermarle said:

I think normally the carer will get Minimum wage, or just a little bit more. The agency will charge £20 and pay the carer some travel costs ( not that generously normally) and pay employer NI, pension contributions where necessary, manage rotas/holidays/sick leave etc  and train staff to at least a minimum standard. Plus make a profit of course. 

That is useful guidance. Thank you. My mother is receiving free care four times a day for four weeks. The reality is that each visit amounts to about 15 minutes. It looks as though I should budget for £20 a visit. The casual visitor to my mother might think she is her normal self, but I am observing a considerable cognitive decline. I have many decisions to make.

blue.peter

Sterlingtimes said:

I will have a look at Attendance Allowance and try to assess whether it is means tested. My mother has an accumulation of disorders: severe macular degeneration, a fix hip fracture, pulmonary embolism, atrial fibrillation and postoperative cognitive decline. I wonder whether that would hit the Attendance Allowance threshold.

Attendance Allowance is not means-tested. (If it was, my mother wouldn't qualify, but she does get it.) Eligibility criteria are set out here.

Sterlingtimes

blue.peter said:

Attendance Allowance is not means-tested. (If it was, my mother wouldn't qualify, but she does get it.) Eligibility criteria are set out here.

Thank you. I note that six months of care must pass before it can become payable.

Skibunny40

You mentioned your mum has macular degeneration - is she classed as partially sighted, or severely partially sighted? That alone should qualify her for AA (at least lower rate and most likely higher if she is severely partially sighted). She doesn't need to have had care for six months before she qualifies, just that she's had the conditions that would require care for six months - I think, it's been a few years since I was doing this.

It's worth contacting either the macular society or a local charity that helps with benefit application forms as there's a specific way to fill out the form to ensure she gets approved