Retrospective charging by Local Authority

Aveton123

Hi. The Local Authority, i.e. Social Services, asked my 96-year old Mum to sign a form to agree to have a financial assessment done to charge for her care. I have Lasting powers of attorney for her. She was discharged from hospital to a rehabilitation centre and is waiting on a decision as to whether she can go into a care home. Social Services are taking a ridiculous amount of time to place her somewhere. She has capital/assets less than the £23,250 limit. One clause in the form states: "If my care has already started, my client contribution will be backdated to the date the care started and I agree to pay the contribution". The problem is that I have no idea whether the NHS or Social Services are paying for her care at the moment and I have no idea how much the care is costing, so it feels like she is being asked to write a blank cheque to them for the retrospective charges. Should she sign the form as it is or delete that clause? Thanks vm.

elsien

if she’s in a rehabilitation centre, then it is most likely to be Nhs at the moment. 

If she is in England then the usual process would be for her to have a continuing healthcare assessment to see if she has ongoing nursing needs as that will affect her options for discharge. Has she had this, and has she had a care act assessment because the financial assessment follows on from this - often quite a long way behind because of delays in the system. 

The easiest way  to find out is to phone up local authority and ask them. You should clarify anyway, because if she’s not going to be a self funder and she’s going to be in a care home if she’s getting attendance allowance she will be being overpaid if that is carrying on. 
I don’t think crossing out that clause will make any difference - if she wishes to accept their funding  they may simply not accept it and send it back. 

Have you seen the guidance around the financial assessment? This is a summary but Age UK do have a fuller document if you want more detail about what possible charges could be. 

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

One final point – does she still have capacity around her financial affairs? It’s not clear because you say you have power-of-attorney but then you also talk about her filling in the form so are you using your power of attorney at the moment?

Aveton123

Thanks very much elsien. She has had a Care Act Assessment, but it's got all sorts of errors in it and although I sent corrections into the Social Worker in April, it hasn't been updated! I haven't yet asked for a Continuing Healthcare Assessment but am about to. I doubt if she'd get a 'positive' Checklist at the moment. I actually contacted DWP to stop her AA after 30 days of being in hospital. I'll have another look at the Age UK factsheet that I looked at a few months ago as well. And yes, I have LPoAs for her. She has mental capacity in certain things, but her dementia (Alzheimer's/Frontal Lobe) is quite variable but I think she understood this particular form. I tend to view her capacity on a case by case basis at the moment, Thanks vm for your help.