Care home fees

[VentingDaughter]

My mother is going to have to go into a care home shortly. I understand she will get the lower rate nursing contribution but will have to self-fund as she owns her flat so her capital is well over the limit.

I'm struggling to find out more about the mechanics of this, particularly since she will need to move quite soon but it will obviously take time to sell her flat. Does anyone have experience of it? Will care homes wait, maybe on the basis of putting a charge on the flat, or would the local authority finance it temporarily again on the basis that they get repaid when the property is sold?

[fiftiesmum]

Care homes do not normally wait (they are businesses in the same way as Tesco). Need to go via local authority as they will be doing a needs assessment so can bring up the subject of money then. Have you got POA in place.

[HappyHammy]

www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/care/paying-for-care/paying-for-a-care-home/do-i-have-to-sell-my-home-to-pay-for-care/

[RosaWaiting]

I’m sorry I don’t have specific information
I was told by a couple of care homes that we needed to show proof of funds for two years. Assuming your mum has the minimum amount in savings, can you show that to cover the two years and then sale of the property would be the next step?

I’m so sorry you are going through this

[VentingDaughter]

Thanks Happy - that page didn't answer the question directly but linked to this useful document which clarifies things a lot. It looks as if the answer may be to apply for deferred payment via the council till the sale of the property can go through.

Mind you, AgeUK need to update their main website. Their figures for likely fees, as I've discovered through recent researches, are around £500 a week below the horrendous reality

[VentingDaughter]

There is a POA in my favour, but I strongly suspect that my mother would now be classed as having lost capacity which seems to mean that I have to get it registered with the court - so that's another stumbling block. Ho hum.

[HappyHammy]

Do you have poa for her already registered.

[VentingDaughter]

No, it's not registered and didn't have to be as it's not a health POA. I understand it does now, assuming the medics confirm that she doesn't have capacity.

[BigSandyBalls2015]

My mums care home were happy to wait until her house was sold. It took a few months and then we just settled the arrears.

[HappyHammy]

Both types of poa have to be registered before they can be used. You can apply to the court for deputy ship if she lacks capacity.

[itbemay]

our neighbour went into a care home and her son rented the house out for around 5 years before she sadly died. He said that he did have to top up by around £150 per month but it meant that he didn't rush into selling the family home etc, may be worth considering.

[RosaWaiting]

I'm confused about this "registering" business.

I thought after the Office of the Public Guardian sent LPA, that was it? We have it, but didn't realise we would need to do something else with it.

[ThePittts]

just a thought if you are self funding, are you claiming attendance allowance ?

[HappyHammy]

When you fill out the poa forms you need to send them off with the fee and it gets registered with the opg. They send you back the stamped authorised copy and a covering letter with the reference number. Without registering them they cannot be used. The financial one can be used as soon as its registered if the person wishes but the health one is only valid if they lose capacity. The old lpa only.covers finances. You will need to provide the stamped original copy when needed.

[HappyHammy]

Attendance allowance was taken back from us when il went into self funded home.

[RosaWaiting]

Happy thanks. We have done that but I got confused and thought maybe there was an extra step.

[HappyHammy]

[VentingDaughter]

The PoA was drawn up by solicitors several years ago, so I think they registered it.

[fiftiesmum]

Attendance allowance should not be taken away from the person if they go into a care home and self funding ("D"MIL still gets it and it pays for a about half a day or week of her fees) may be different in Scotland and Wales. You would quite likely lose your carers allowance as you are no longer looking after someone for over 35 hours a week.

[MereDintofPandiculation]

The PoA was drawn up by solicitors several years ago, so I think they registered it. If they registered it, there will be a stamp on every page from the Court of Protection showing that it's been registered. I can't remember the wording, but it's a circular stamp about an inch across.

[stucknoue]

Fees vary widely so continue looking about - we were quoted £465 for residential only recently so lower rates exist (his wife is nhs funded 1:1 care at £1100 a week)

[MidnightVelvet9]

Hi OP, I'm fairly sure that the local authority will pay the fees until the house sale, then will take the amount back from the sale of the house. It doesn't really matter how long the house takes to sell, the amount owing will just increase until it does sell.

Look at your local council's website, there should be info. Our council has a Financial Assessments Team under Adult Social Care who deal with it all & you can phone them & ask them. If your mum has a social worker they should be able to help too.

[VentingDaughter]

Looking again at the PoA, it's an Enduring Power and was drawn up before the law changed, so it didn't have to be registered; however, if my mother is losing capacity it does have to be registered now.

One of the issues I'm struggling with is whether evidence of lack of capacity has to be lodged, because I'm struggling to get any sense out of the hospital/social worker about whether a formal decision has been made on capacity. I know that capacity depends on the decision to be made, and it could be that my mother has enough understanding to know that she trusts me (I hope) to sort out the sale of the flat. On the other hand, she has no actual memory of the flat - she talks about the garden and is clearly confusing it with a previous house she lived in - and I suspect solicitors dealing with the sale of the flat would rightly have concerns about her understanding of everything.

[RosaWaiting]

I’d start by contacting the OPG

details at the foot of the page when you scroll down

www.gov.uk/government/organisations/office-of-the-public-guardian

[fiftiesmum]

It does seem odd to me how families are so against selling the "family home" in order to pay care fees and say how upsetting for the person in care. If the person in care has dementia then the home they talk about is often one of their childhood or full of their young children and not the silent empty house they have recently left.
Funnily enough as soon as the person has died and care bills cease the lead sibling (who may have never darkened the door of the care home) is out of the blocks to the estate agent.

[CallmeAngelina]

"Lead sibling?" You projecting a bit there, fifties?