Help with care costs

[snookes]

I am a private carer and care for a lovely lady who is 93 years old. She lives with dementia. Things are gradually getting more difficult. She lives at home in her own home which is in need of repair. It gets patches on patches but is for now ok. She really wants to stay at home. I visit everyday for an hour and a half. It’s just not enough. She needs proper attention and the house cleaned. Her family are scattered around the country and rarely visit. They say she can’t afford for me to stay longer than I do. I have no choice sometimes. They have explained that financially she barely gets by. How can this situation improve? Can she get financial assistance for more care and still remain in her familiar surroundings?

Does she get attendance allowance? Has she had a social services assessment? If she barely gets by she would probably be funded by them for personal care but not for cleaning etc.

I think she gets attendance allowance. I don’t really get involved with her money. Could she be refused help because she owns her own home?

Yes I’ve just looked at an email and she receives lower rate attendance allowance. That was in 2023.

She should have a needs assessment from Social services - if you believe her needs cannot be met with the support you currently provide, this should be done asap. Any support she will need following this will require a financial assessment. If the support is at home, her home cannot be sold to pay for it but she will have to contribute.
You can contact adult social care for advice.

Late FIL was in a similar position and owning his own home made no difference to the attendance allowance. However, he had a social care assessment and if he had more than 23k in savings it meant he wasn't eligible for direct payments. My dh is disabled and I'm his full time carer (in receipt of carers allowance) but because we haven't got more than 23k savings dh was awarded direct payments to pay for carers when he had a social care assessment as, due to him needing 24 hour care, it was decided it was too much for me and we were eligible for respite carers.

I’d be more than happy to continue to provide care and support. Can direct payments pay for a private carer? How does it work?

Yes it can. The financial assessment forms will have a place for this info if I recall,

Her family need to know if you're suggesting she pay you more, she will need a care and financial assessment first and a capacity assessment, they will need to know she agrees to more care or if there is power of attorney in place. How are you being paid at the moment and do you have permission to access her emails.

Family know that more care is needed but are very hesitant because of the cost. I am currently paid by the family who have access to their mom’s account. I don’t have access to that or her emails. I referred to an email in my account earlier that had been sent to me from the family.

Do her family have power of attorney, the first thing they need to do is ask for a care assessment and a capacity assessment. Does she have a dementia nurse, district nurse and GP. What care does she need. She may get equipment and adaptations from the community therapists and nurse visits if her condition would benefit and her health is declining.

It sounds like the main concern is around the state of the property. Could you suggest that they get a cleaner in if hourly rate is cheaper than yours as a carer ?

As others have said,she needs a care needs assessment from social services...they will also do a financial assessment and if she's deemed not to have the finances to fund it social services will step in .

Who does the family contact for a care assessment?

The adult social services in the ladies area her gp or district nurse. What area does she live in. Who diagnosed her dementia

Her home wouldn’t come into it for homecare.
Sorry to be cynical but I wouldn’t take as gospel the family saying she “can’t afford” more care. It may be she can afford it but she/they don’t think she needs it. It may be that they have half an eye on their inheritance ☹️. In England they can contact the local authority (council) for her area, they’ll have an adult social care section on their website. It will be the county council (or London Borough) rather than the borough council.

Sadly in my experience many people (themselves not even their families) just don’t want to pay what care costs, even if they have the money.

OP you sound lovely. Social services in the lady's local area could do a home care assessment. The lady or a relative would need to request one. They would then assess what care she needs and do a finical assessment and then work out what they would recommend for care and what contribution she would need to make out of her own funds. If you want to provide the care and the lady/her family are happy with this, she could pay you privately. This would be out of her own money while her savings are more than a certain amount. Once they fall below this threshold, adult social care could pay her to pay you.