Continuing Health Care - Preparing to fight PCT's decision 15 March 2008 at 2:13PM in Over 50s Money Saving 776 replies 182.1K views

greenflamingo_2

Thanks monkeyspanner for your kind assistance.

I suspected it was going to be a long, drawn out process. As my FIL funds are around £12K I am worried about what happens whilst we are waiting for a resolution. If the care home starts charging him £2K per month he only has 6 months of money to fund his stay. Should we let a charge be put against my FIL's property or is this something to try and avoid at all costs?

We were hoping to use his savings to carry out urgent remedial work on the property - gas central heating, new bathroom, kitchen etc. in order that we could try and rent it out to get some income towards the nursing home fees in case his appeal failed. Selling isnt an option as sales are practically zero at the moment. Would the PCT/L.A. view this as us trying to reduce his disposable income as there is only one pot of money and if we use it then he has no funds to pay the care home?

As he is only paying £400 per month at the moment - we started to get bills after his "free" 12 week stay - would this continue until the case goes to appeal?

So confused as just dont know what to do for the best! If anyone can help please feel free to steer us in the right direction.

monkeyspanner

In the current market I don't think you have much option but to ask the council if the would put a charge against the house and pay the care home fees. I do not think they are obliged to agree to this funding. Luckily we didn't have to do this as we managed to get a buyer for MIL's house so I cannot speak from any experience about recommending this course of action. The last thing you want to have to do is sell the house at a knock down price.

Bear in mind that if you rent out the house that the income after expenses will be counted as your FIL's income and together with his pension and any benefits be assessed against the care home fees. So you may go to all the trouble of renting out and all the proceeds be taken for care fees. Of course this would reduce or eliminate the charge on the house. I would suggest you talk to the social services about using savings to renovate the house as they could view this as a deliberate deprivation of assets.

When you say free 12 week stay do you mean the 12 week disregard period? This period is supposed to be for selling the property. During this period your FIL's income should still be assessed and he would be expected to contribute as though he did not own a property, so he will still probably have to pay something during the 12 weeks. It took the council finance department about 6 months to complete an assessment in my MIL's case and then they were asking for about £150/week for the part of the 12 week disregard we needed.

I suggest you look at the fact sheets on the site below for more information on care home funding www.counselandcare.org.uk they will also take calls and were very helpful.

Is your FIL in receipt of Attendance allowance? This is paid at one of two levels the higher being £67 per week and it is not means tested. AA stops 4 weeks after Continuing care starts and in our case the AA my MIL had received was deducted from the retrospective CHc payment. Essentially you need to sort out the care home funding so all is in place until you win the CHc appeal.

Do you have a Power of Attorney from your FIL because all financial dealings will be difficult if not impossible if you don't? In fact the pension service/banks etc. may refuse to talk to you.

It is confusing but you will get on top of it eventually. Your priority should be to organise the care home funding as though you are not going to get the CHc whilst progressing the CHc appeal process. Have a look at the link above and if you have any specific questions I will do my best to help.

greenflamingo_2

Thanks Monkeyspanner for all the information.

Yes we have applied for POA - and are hoping to get this through this month.

I did look at the Attendance Allowance and thought this was something you could only claim if you were in your own home and had people coming in to look after you.
Who would I contact to check if he was receiving this or to arrange it?

At the moment his pension is going into his Post Office Account and we have no access to it until the POA is received.

I will have a read of the link you sent.

Again many thanks.

monkeyspanner

Hi Green Flamingo
AA is normally paid in the same way as pension. It can be a separate payment or sometimes is paid in the same payment as pension. The department that deals with it is separate from pensions but they liase. Here is a general link for AA and details entitlement and how to claim.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/FinancialSupport/AttendanceAllowance/index.htm?cids=Yahoo_PPC&cre=DPAC_franchise

malid

My uncle was getting AA but it stopped after he was in hospital for 4 weeks. I have notified DWP that he has now gone to a residential nursing home (although back in hospital at the moment) and they confirmed that AA was no longer payable or an entitlement in these circumstances.

malid

Greenflamingo, do you have access to any of his paperwork? There would be a letter from the DWP in respect to AA. My uncle's was not paid with his pension into his PO account; it was paid by DD into his bank account.

However, as ai said earlier, DWP must be notified if the person in receipt of AA is hopitalised for 4 weeks (this is cumulative over a 12 month period I think) and it is not payable I was told when someone goes into a care home (unless of course they return to their own home at a later date and then it could be reapplied for).

greenflamingo_2

Thanks everyone for your help. I guess I need to find the letter from the Pensions Department. What time of year would you normally receive one so if we cant find anything we know when it might be posted out to my FIL ?

My FIL has lost interest in his financial affairs and is no help at all so we are now sorting through a vast amount of paperwork to see what we can unearth.

It does make you wonder who sorts out all this kind of thing when the elderly have no relatives !

sloughflint

malid wrote: »

However, as ai said earlier, DWP must be notified if the person in receipt of AA is hopitalised for 4 weeks (this is cumulative over a 12 month period I think) and it is not payable I was told when someone goes into a care home (unless of course they return to their own home at a later date and then it could be reapplied for).

The AA is paid if the person is self-funding.

The cumulative aspect of 4 weeks is new to me.

greenflamingo_2

Thanks SloughFlint - yes you are correct - AA is payable if you are in a nursing home and you are self funding. The higher rate is around £67 per week which I am sure my FIL is eligible for. Malid - if you relative is self funding you need to check he is claiming it.
http://www.camden.gov.uk/print/ccm/content/community-and-living/welfare-and-benefits/can-i-get-attendance-allowance-.en?page=all

http://www.trafford.gov.uk/cme/live/cme2060.htm?scheme_name=lgnl&scheme_category_id=292

I have found a Pensions letter dated November 2007 and my FIL is claiming the £119.05 single persons pension and also "because you are severely disabled £48.45". This is under the heading "Pensions Credit" so I guess he is not claiming Attendance Allowance as there is a 6 month waiting limit before you can claim. We have now downloaded the form from the DWP website and once POA is received we can crack on with that just in case CHC funding is refused.

Funny isnt it how no-one from Social Services or any professional involved in my FIL's case has ever mentioned that he could claim this.

sloughflint

greenflamingo wrote: »

Funny isnt it how no-one from Social Services or any professional involved in my FIL's case has ever mentioned that he could claim this.

Don't get me started on social services and such like!

margaretclare wrote: »

I can't imagine me ever losing interest in my financial affairs.

It's easy to say this now while you are fit and healthy and long may it continue. I have to handle the affairs of a highly intellectual person who is now sadly exhausted by the simplest task, even writing out a cheque.