Advice for holding house sale proceeds for care home fees?

the-chauffeur_2

Hello savings people

We're in the process of selling my partner's father's (FIL) home to fund his care fees.  He's lost the mental capacity to deal with anything and been in care for a couple of years now.  We hold power of attorney and have a deferred funding arrangement for ongoing fees in place with the council.  His accounts and affairs are very straightforward and the house sale is the last piece of the jigsaw.  We anticipate he'll live for at least another two years.

Once the house is sold, we'll talk to the council about what needs to be paid/repaid immediately.   With that done, there's likely to be a fairly sizeable sum (£100k+) that'll need to be held on deposit for payment of ongoing costs.  The money will be held in one of his high street bank accounts but the interest rates available from his banks are poor and we'd really like to limit the impact of inflation over time on whatever's left.  

Ideally we'd shift the money to other institutions with higher paying interest-bearing accounts, but to do that we'll need to open accounts in his name.  But due to the length of time my FIL has been in the home, he has no conventional forms of ID, which I suspect will significantly limit our options. 

With all that in mind, has anyone had any experience with this sort of situation and/or any advice about what we're likely to encounter if we approach other banks/institutions?

Thanks in advance

elsien

Have you seen this article on the main page?

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/best-banks-for-power-of-attorney/#:~:text=For%20those%20that%20do%2C%20you,of%20address%20of%20the%20donor.

just wondering if he gets any pension or DWP letters or hospital appointment letters or anything like that that might have his name and current address on, or does everything now come to you?

Olinda99

do you hold financial power of attorney?

judexx

I’ve been in just that position for the last couple of years – I hold POA for my mum.

My advice would be, once you’ve found an organisation that you think you want to open an account with, phone them, speak to the POA section, and ask them to talk you through the processes of opening a POA account with them. Check exactly what ID they will accept from your FIL. Many (but not all) will accept a letter from the care home and/or a recent invoice as proof of address. For proof of name, letter from DWP (even if it’s sent to you) seems to be fine.

Some organisations are very particular about exactly what wording they need from a certifying solicitor on a copy of POA. So, if this will apply to you, double check that with them. Also check if you can operate the account online (if this is what you are planning to do).

It can be a bit of a performance, starting with a new provider, so it’s worth doing that bit of groundwork first. I regret going with Paragon as although you can operate online, every time you want to open a new account (generally for a better interest rate) you have to call them, request a paper form and then complete it with all the information that you have previously given them – time consuming and infuriating.

By contrast, I’ve always found Nationwide easy to deal with, both on the phone and online.

Obviously, if you plan on going into a branch to operate the account (lucky you to have one ) things could be a bit more straight forward.

HTH – feel free to ask if there’s anything else.

the-chauffeur_2

Thanks everybody - that's really kind.

Elsien - I hadn't seen that page; thank you.  I thought I'd been reasonably smart searching the forum first but didn't check the main site 'cos I thought it might be a bit niche for its own page.  That'll teach me . . .

Olinda - we hold both property & financial and health & welfare.

Jude - some excellent context and advice there; thanks!  I'm already wary of accounts that require some sort of intervention every time things like interest rates change after some personal experience.  And the branch thing is probs a non-starter for the reason you've alluded to.  We've already been through the solicitor certification process once and I'm not particularly interested in going through that again but we'll see how that plays out.  With the house being empty for some time, the bills that remain are all addressed c/o me to our address (not his).  But we've got plenty of documents confirming confinement to the care home including medical reports, so I can't see that being too high a bar to overcome.

Guess we'll start the process of contacting the various options we're considering.  Again, the name of the game is simplicity so we'll probably stick to one account with online access.  And yead, we know the FSCS limit is capped at £85k but the options we're looking at aren't likely to go under.  And even if they did I reckon the world will have bigger things to worry about before getting to that point!

Thanks again everyone.

Warslet

I have POA for my MIL. I used this forum for information on opening accounts with various banks/ building societies as wanted to restrict the balances with each institution to £85,000. As already mentioned some won’t allow online access and I have to telephone to do anything, usually dealing with maturing products. I’ve found that most will accept HMRC tax letters, DWP letters and a letter on headed paper from the care home when opening an account. I’ve recently come across Hargreaves Lansdown and their Active Savings Account. You can open an account with them (has to be by post) and can then use savings institutions on their savings hub. This is not advice but may be worthwhile looking into. I found them extremely helpful and knowledgeable when contacted by e-mail and they have an exception process when there is no standard ID. 

Linton

The other option is to put the money into NS&I which has an unlimited guarantee.

LHW99

You / the home have applied for Attendance Allowance for him? It's not means tested, and can help towards fees.

the-chauffeur_2

LWH - that's a great shout.  And no, despite the various interactions with the home, social care and everyone else, we haven't applied because you're the first to mention it! 

We've just printed the forms (can't submit online because PoA) and will get that process started.

Thank you!!

xylophone

Any entitlement to nursing care component?

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/social-care-and-support-guide/money-work-and-benefits/nhs-funded-nursing-care/

SacredStephan

I would ask the care home manager to help fill in the Attendance Allowance forms.
If FIL requires 24hour care then AA should be paid at the higher rate and you can ask for it to be backdated (nothing to lose by asking) because you were not aware of the existence of the benefit.