Querying financial assessment for payment of care home fees

BridgeBourne

Can anyone give thoughts on the following please.

Mum in a care home with dementia and walking issues since March 2025 ( nowhere else possible). No money has yet been paid by her ( ie me as POA) because we have been awaiting financial assessment result.

Have  now received Council letter saying that Mum can self fund - she has £20K in savings plus an unsold Park Home that has been on the market for 2 years. The value of the Park Home will take her capital assets over the to threshold WHEN SOLD.

Council have said they are about to send invoice for care home fees since March. If/when paid this will mean Mum has £65 in the bank/ all accounts.

I cannot believe that it is appropriate to empty the bank account of an 84 year old lady with dementia on the basis that sometime in the future her Park Home will be sold.

Can anyone advise or suggest who to talk to. I am reaching out to any organisation I can think of and have complained to the Council.

Albermarle

When the property involved is the persons home, there can be an arrangement called Deferred Payments.
So payments to the LA are delayed until the house is sold. I would have thought the same could apply in your Mums case.
I would keep objecting to the Council on this basis and in the meantime speak to Age UK.

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/siteassets/documents/factsheets/fs38_property_and_paying_for_residential_care_fcs.pdf

p00hsticks

As she is self-funding you should put in an application for Attendance Allowance for her  if she's not already claiming it (you'll need to stop it if and when she ceases to self-fund)..  

Martin_the_Unjust

Ii may be that, as the park home has not been sold for two years, the council suspects you are not serious about selling it

Topsinger

Has an assessment for NHS Continuing Health Care been carried out for your Mum? It is not easy to get but if it can be proven that she has what is termed a Primary Health Need then the NHS is responsible for funding the entirety of care needs.

Age UK have helpful information about paying for care on their website & I have also found this one very useful. 

https://caretobedifferent.co.uk/

HillStreetBlues

I would be be appealing the decision based on the the park home, I would be stating that is a personal possession so excluded from the calculations. 

teddysmum

HillStreetBlues said:

I would be be appealing the decision based on the the park home, I would be stating that is a personal possession so excluded from the calculations. 

I would think that this depends on what is meant by 'park home'.

I imagine a park home to be a full time home, on a residential estate and would doubt that this could be called just a possession, but a static caravan on a restricted occupation holiday or private site would be just a possession, having very low resale value. My son paid £20000 for his, about 7 years ago and was recently offered under £2000 by a dealer, with the site offering even less, even though the van is well kept with the addition of a dishwasher, double glazing and extra insulation.

sheramber

HillStreetBlues said:

I would be be appealing the decision based on the the park home, I would be stating that is a personal possession so excluded from the calculations. 

So is a house but  the value is included in any calculation. 

HillStreetBlues

sheramber said:

HillStreetBlues said:

I would be be appealing the decision based on the the park home, I would be stating that is a personal possession so excluded from the calculations. 

So is a house but  the value is included in any calculation. 

A house isn't classed as a  personal possession in the context of benefit law.

HillStreetBlues

teddysmum said:

HillStreetBlues said:

I would be be appealing the decision based on the the park home, I would be stating that is a personal possession so excluded from the calculations. 

I would think that this depends on what is meant by 'park home'.

I imagine a park home to be a full time home, on a residential estate and would doubt that this could be called just a possession, but a static caravan on a restricted occupation holiday or private site would be just a possession, having very low resale value. My son paid £20000 for his, about 7 years ago and was recently offered under £2000 by a dealer, with the site offering even less, even though the van is well kept with the addition of a dishwasher, double glazing and extra insulation.

The default should be it's excluded as more akin to a caravan than a house, so i would want the LA to argue why it should be included.