Paying for care

MynameisMichaelCane

"My Mums saving soon ran out so I approached thr council for assistance. They assess the situation and refused to help because they felt she should not be in care."

My local council made it clear that a care home is the very last resort and they have several ways to help an old person stay in their own home. I'm not convinced that staying in their own home is always the best. It can lead to loneliness and ill health due poor lifestyle choices. There are day centres and that sort of thing available but it is not the same as being in a good care home where you can get used to a routine and have the same people to care for you and to socialise with every day.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82031097#Comment_82031097

On the other hand we see quite a few threads on these forums, where people want/need a high level of care at home, but the council insist on them going to a care home, as it works out cheaper.

elsien

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82031097#Comment_82031097

This may be true, but we have a social care crisis, and people who are looking for ways to avoid paying for their care (not the case here, obviously) and unless we all want to pay a lot more tax or other systems are place (governments of various stripes keep pushing this down the line) going into care homes when needs can be met at home simply isn’t affordable.
Which flag up the importance of a good care act assessment. Residential care is more likely to be offered where four calls a day are not enough, or someone needs support at night.

What’s also not unknown is for family to put a relative into a very expensive care home knowing the money will run out in a few months and then get cross when their relative has to move somewhere cheaper.

Albermarle

My Mums saving soon ran out so I approached thr council for assistance. They assess the situation and refused to help because they felt she should not be in care."

I think it is usually advised to get a social care assessment right at the beginning, even if you will be self funding.

This means you get on your books, and they maybe be able to advise what they might be prepared to pay/what the rules are if/when the self funding money runs out.

p00hsticks

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82030882#Comment_82030882

I'm not sure but I think there may be a council tax reduction / exemption where the sole owner / occupier has gone into care - but any saving there is likely to be swallowed up by the probable rise in insurance for insuring an empty home.

SacredStephan

The Council Tax Exemption is 'E', which should be backdated to the day that the occupier went to live in a care home. My experience is that insuring an empty property is not substantially more expensive than insuring an occupied property but fewer companies will quote.

Shimrod

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82031708#Comment_82031708

The cover is also substantially reduced as well - we have continued the cover on my mum's home while we get it ready to sell, but after 30 days there is no cover for burglary or flooding (caused by a water leak).

Possibly I should have looked for specific empty house cover but I had other things on my mind at that point.

Ibrahim5

You have to get a 'care needs assessment ' which says that you need a nursing home BEFORE you go into a home. It's supposed to be done on an assessment of care needs only but when I was trying to get a care home place I was asked if they had money to pay for themselves. When I said they had then I was told that they would say that they needed a care home place. IE as long as the council didn't have to pay they would agree to anything.

elsien

You don’t “have” to get a care needs assessment before you go into a care home. A self-funder can go into a care home any time they like if they’ve got the money and the care home will accept them.

For many people the assessment comes when the money runs out and they change from self- funding to needing local authority support. And the financial assessment doesn’t happen until after the care assessment is completed – that is in the legislation.

Ibrahim5

Of course you don't have to. A billionaire is always going to have enough. For most people there is a degree of uncertainty depending on how long they live. I am just saying that the OP is in this position becasue they didn't get social services to say they needed a nursing home BEFORE they went in. The council would have helped if social services had agreed that there was a need beforehand.