Nursing home fees

AnneMW

Apologies for what might be a daft question but I have been unable to find an answer to my question. I am trying to assist my elderly mother and stepfather.

Context:

On 1st January this year, my mother was admitted to hospital with, we now know, covid and pneumonia, following a fall. After a fairly lengthy stay, she was transferred to a nursing home and has been notified that she has been discharged from the NHS care.

My mother is morbidly obese and not mobile but obviously wishes to return home but cannot given the medical advice received, I am presently trying to find out why she is immobile, but no one seems to know why nor are any investigations in progress. She has not been out of bed since 1st January, and this is making matters worse.

An occupational health therapist has recently met with my mother and has visited the flat where she and my stepfather live but has said she cannot return there, and they have now applied for local authority housing but are awaiting a response; the local authority originally mislaid their documentation – it has now been located!

Question: Do pensioners with joint savings of £10,000 and only pensions as an income need to pay for a nursing home when medical requirements are such that my mother cannot return home at present?

My mother and my stepfather have now been told that it has been assessed that whilst she is in the nursing home, they will be charged £196.79 a week and back fees of £1928.56. They are pensioners with savings of £10,000 between them and rent to pay on their flat to a social housing association. The financial worry is causing them a great deal of stress.

Of course, I may have misunderstood but I thought that the threshold for paying contributions was over £14,250 and because they jointly have less than this amount, my mother should be entitled to maximum support from the local authority. Are they being asked to contribute due to their pension income? I appreciate this is probably really difficult to answer without specifics, but any help is very much appreciated.

p00hsticks

I think this is a question better suited to the Benefits board - I'll ask the forum team to move it over to there

HillStreetBlues

Your mother will pay part of the care home fees from her pension,  but  you are correct nothing from any savings as below the threshold.
I believe the council are allowed to start charging 6 weeks after she left hospital
There is a handy guide at Age UK
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/care/paying-for-care/paying-for-a-care-home/
 

elsien

People who are off their feet for a long time tend to lose muscle strength and find it really difficult to regain mobility. Particularly if there is a weight issue going on there as well. After being in bed since January then you may find she is not able to get back on her feet.
She could ask the GP to refer for a physio assessment if that hasn’t happened. Care homes can be a bit lax about this sort of thing unless someone prods them.
She should only be being assessed on her half of any joint assets, but she will have to pay something from income over a certain amount. Your stepfathers’s savings and income  don’t come into it, just hers. 

They need to  hold of a copy of the financial assessment and check that it’s correct. However it is usual for people in residential care to have their pension go towards care and be left with £25 spending allowance. Perhaps this is where the arrears have come from. 

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/care/paying-for-care/paying-for-a-care-home/

But a loss of mobility, if that’s the primary reason that she still in the care home isn’t a medical need in the world of local authority and health funding. So she will have had a health needs assessment to look at whether she qualifies for full health funding or not. If she has capacity, she should have been involved in that, if not, then your father or you should have been asked for your views.

But if her needs are primarily social care then there’s no other options. 

If alternative housing is found which she can return to, but she hasn’t regained her mobility and need carers to come in then there will be a financial assessment for that as well.
is there a social worker allocated because that’s who you need to be addressing some of these questions to. 


Would your stepfather qualify for any additional benefits while your mother is not at home and contributing? It might be worth putting some figures through entitled to and see what it comes up with. Pension credit or housing benefit or single persons council tax discount because she’s been away from home from six months already and you don’t know how much longer that might go on before. He can always inform them of another change of circumstances as and when she does return home.

Brie

You (or stepdad) can try disputing the charges particularly if there was nothing said prior to her moving in.  We were told with MiL that she was being moved to make space in the hospital as she didn't need that level of care and because it was the hospital that was dictating this there would be no charge.  2 months later we/she received a bill for £4k.  After much correspondence this was rescinded.  

You (or stepdad) need to write out a financial statement showing how much income they actually have and what all of their expenses are.  It's possible that mom's income is required to keep stepdad in their home and so that lessens the amount she might have to pay her bills at the care home.  If you look on the debt board you'll find a link to a statement of accounts (SOA) and that will show everything that needs to be included. 

Basically if she doesn't have the money the local authority will need to pick up the tab.  Don't let anyone convince you that you or any other siblings are responsible for her bills.

Cheese1990

HillStreetBlues said:

Your mother will pay part of the care home fees from her pension,  but  you are correct nothing from any savings as below the threshold.
I believe the council are allowed to start charging 6 weeks after she left hospital
There is a handy guide at Age UK
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/care/paying-for-care/paying-for-a-care-home/
 

So the council can charge from day 1 of discharge from Hospital, if your Mum is deemed as needing nursing care then she will recieve FNC as a minimum roughly £210pw, but could be fully health funded if she has a primary health need and the rest she may be partially liable for dependent on her personal income as long as she remains above the minimum income level which is about £26 pw. So yes the LA can request that your Mum contributes towards her care, but they can only consider her income in the assessment and 50% of any joint income your parents may have.