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Threshold for funding own elderly care

Hi Newbie to the site,

In 2020 my father died, and as my mother had dementia we had to put her in a home. We sold their home and mothers half has been used to finance her care ever since. Our understanding was when her pot got down to £23,250 that she would no longer have to contribute beyond her old age pension. We've informed the care home and the council that August will be her last payment and that we've moved her remaining money to another account, however we're being told that the council may only partly fund her remaining care and she may still be expected to contribute. She is 94 and any assessment should conclude she can't be moved to a cheaper home, so where does this leave us? She never claimed any benefit whilst working and has paid £127k in the last 3 years for her care, it cannot be right she has to continue to pay.

What can we do to protect her remaining money?

Thanks for any advice

Kind regards

Tony H

Comments

  • 74jax
    74jax Posts: 7,930 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    The assessment will need to go ahead. Once they establish she can't be moved elsewhere, social services can step in to organise the top up funding. 
    For my mother, it wasn't 23k but it was several years ago. It was something like she self funded to 21k,then partially funded to 16k then didn't contribute.

    However she had dementia and had a double stroke so other than her hair done once a week didn't need any money (if that makes sence) so we just continued to fund.

    This was several years ago however and do believe things have changed somewhat. 
    If she has a social worker, have a chat to them. 
    I'm guessing the house was owed Tennant in Common and so the whole house didn't go to her? Do social services know this (when they have done their yearly assessments), they may think she has more than she does. 
    Forty and fabulous, well that's what my cards say....
  • Spendless
    Spendless Posts: 24,390 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Your Mum has to part fund between 23250 and 14250. You can't do anything to change that. Your Mum will be fully funded once her income drops below 14250. You've either misunderstood or been misinformed if you believed otherwise. 

    https://www.independentage.org/get-advice/health-and-care/paying-for-care/paying-for-care-a-care-home#:~:text=In England, if you have,towards your care home fees.

    You can purchase a funeral plan for her with her remaining money . That isn't classed as DOA. That would mean she hits the 14250 threshold earlier and also that she will  at least have around that amount  (or potentially more) when she does eventually leave you and will mean most funeral costs are covered (some costs can't be eg a wake)
    . My Mum did this when my Nan entered a care home which meant she left around 23500 when she died earlier this year (some amounts were in life assurance policies so only paid out on death so weren't assets she could use for care). Double check what I'm saying with someone like Age Concern though just in case any rules have changed.   
  • Keep_pedalling
    Keep_pedalling Posts: 19,296 Forumite
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    Any saving she has over £14250 will be treated as earning income so that assumed income (£1 per week for every £250 over) will be added to her pension income as the amount she needs to pay, less  a small amount for personal expenses) As others have said I think you have misunderstood what was said, it should all become clear during the financial assessment.
  • Gavin83
    Gavin83 Posts: 8,757 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    TonyH2 said:
    Hi Newbie to the site,

    In 2020 my father died, and as my mother had dementia we had to put her in a home. We sold their home and mothers half has been used to finance her care ever since. Our understanding was when her pot got down to £23,250 that she would no longer have to contribute beyond her old age pension. We've informed the care home and the council that August will be her last payment and that we've moved her remaining money to another account, however we're being told that the council may only partly fund her remaining care and she may still be expected to contribute. She is 94 and any assessment should conclude she can't be moved to a cheaper home, so where does this leave us? She never claimed any benefit whilst working and has paid £127k in the last 3 years for her care, it cannot be right she has to continue to pay.

    What can we do to protect her remaining money?

    Thanks for any advice

    Kind regards

    Tony H
    It depends on what you mean by her continuing to contribute. There are two options:

    1) She'll be expected to contribute based on her capital level down to £14250. This has been explained elsewhere so I won't go into it further.

    2) The home is more expensive than the councils ceiling limit. I expect this is the one you're referring to. If you approach the council for funding they'll have a max amount they'll pay a week for a care home. Anything beyond that is expected as a top up. Most councils will almost never pay a top up fee but they will try and persuade the home to accept the councils rate. This is discretionary but in my experience is more likely to be accepted if they've been in the home for a long time, the gap between the council ceiling and their charges aren't too great or the resident isn't expected to live more than a few months.

    I've got some further bad news for you. This extra payment is not allowed to come from her money. It's a third party top up fee and is expected to be covered by the family. If the family can't cover it and the care home aren't willing to budge from their fees she'll likely be moved. 

    TonyH2 said:
    She is 94 and any assessment should conclude she can't be moved to a cheaper home, so where does this leave us?
    Unfortunately I wouldn't be expecting this outcome. The council will only pay a top up in extreme circumstances and it's very much a last resort for them. They will move almost anyone if they have to and age has no influence on this decision.
  • OldMusicGuy
    OldMusicGuy Posts: 1,767 Forumite
    Seventh Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 13 July 2023 pm31 5:43PM
    My Father in Law (aged 96) recently moved into a care home and we had just this discussion with the care home about the situation if his funds ran out. They have had some cases where they moved residents in this situation to a cheaper room and accepted the council funding, they have had others where the residents had to move out to a home that fell within the council funding level. They would not give us any guarantees about this. 

    Gavin83 has outlined the situation well. It's very challenging if you find yourself in this situation. You say your mum never claimed benefits, is she claiming attendance allowance? If not, she should and this might be some help. EDIT - I note you said "while working", so maybe she is claiming AA.

    My FiL used some of his savings to take out an immediate care needs annuity which give him guaranteed top up funding for life, but it sounds like it's too late for you to consider this. 
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