Who pays for care and are savings used

Simon7685 · 12 February 2019 at 11:33AM

Apologies if I have posted in the wrong forum.

My Mum is 87 and has multiple health problems. She is suffering from end stage renal failure and currently in hospital. They are talking about sending her home with things in place for end of life.

She gets pension credit guarantee and low rate AA which is her only income. She is in rented accomodation with full HB and CT benefit. She has a small amount of savings well below the 10k she is allowed, in fact it is under 3k. Will she have to use her savings first to pay for care or will the cost be covered by other means?

She has saved for donkeys years to leave something for her Grand daughter and is now worried they will take it from her.

I have been trying to look it up but can't find anything definitive and I am not well up on how this works, other than it seems like working through a minefield of information.
Thanks

Robin9 · 12 February 2019 at 11:42AM

Has she an allocated Social Worker ? If so the Social Worker will have undertaken a financial assessment.

I think the figure is now £23,000 not £10,000 - she will not have to pay anything.

I faced the same end of life care with my MIL in December. She had a full 4 carer visits a day.

Make the most of your time with your mum - talk of good things from the past. At the same time talk to her about her wishes for funeral etc. Prepare yourself for some of the practical things - which funeral director to contact and talk to them. The more you can talk through now the more straightforward things will be at what will be a stressful time.

Is there a will in place and have you POA ?

Mojisola · 12 February 2019 at 11:46AM

Have you seen this -
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs46_paying_for_care_and_support_at_home_fcs.pdf

Also - it sounds as if she should be entitled to the higher rate of AA.

Simon7685 · 12 February 2019 at 10:48PM

Thanks for the replies guys, I did manage to find out that she can have just over 14k in savings and it will not be taken into account. She does have a will in place but there is only me and my daughter left now, everyone else has already gone, so it is pretty straight forward from that point of view.
There is no POA in place but all her finances are dealt with by me now and we made her bank account into a joint account a few years ago now so there are no complications there, in fact it was advised by her bank that that was the way to go to make things as easy as possible.
The hospital have contacted social services so things are moving forward but there has been no financial assessment arranged as yet and she wouldn't go ahead with one unless I was there.

elsien · 12 February 2019 at 10:56PM

If her needs are primarily health related you should make sure a Continuing Health Care assessment is done. There is a fast track pathway if someone is deteriorating rapidly or approaching end of life. If she qualifies for nursing needs then her care would be paid for.
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs20_nhs_continuing_healthcare_and_nhs-funded_nursing_care_fcs.pdf

CHC funding can be put in place to allow people to return home although their default is a nursing home so you may need to argue the case.

Who pays for care and are savings used

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