can deferred payments also be used for live-in care from an agency?

[NotAnEMERGENCY]

(I am also posting this in the 'elderly parents' topic.)

Does anyone know whether the council's deferred payment can be used towards care agency fees? Or can it ONLY be used for care home fees?

MIL has vascular dementia and has been self-funding live-in care from an agency for 3 years. She will run out of savings soon and will need to move into a care home. We were intending to use the council's deferred payment loan for the care home fees until her house has been sold. We were thinking of moving her in a couple of months, giving my OH some time to try to get her used to the idea of moving. (The combination of dementia, lockdown and us not living locally makes this all rather challenging!)

We have just found out that the care agency want to start adding 'waking night' care, meaning she will run out of savings much sooner than we had originally anticipated (potentially

A deferred payment agreement can't be used to pay towards live in care fees. You would likely need to look at equity release on the property or ask the council to offer funding towards the package of care provided at home and someone else can provide a 3rd party top up to make up the difference between the cost of the live in care and what the council will agree to pay

www.nhs.uk/conditions/social-care-and-support-guide/money-work-and-benefits/nhs-continuing-healthcare/

Is this suitable
This seems to be a guarded secret for some reason but it is available

Has a continuing health care assessment been done? If her needs are significant she maybe eligible. And this will cover the cost of her care

I just suggested this 🤞🏻@unicornsarereal72

If your MIL has savings of less than £23,250 and her property, you should request a care needs assessment from the local authority (adult social services). There is a (fairly slim) possibility that they may agree MIL's needs are best met by the care package at home.

There was a drive prior to Covid to deliver more care at home and a primary focus on wellbeing. The situation has changed significantly with the unavoidable pressures of the pandemic, but it is still possible.

In the instance of under £23,250 and staying in the home, the main home would not be included in the Financial Assessment.

Alternatively, a deferred payment agreement can be used in Housing with Care as well as long term residential care.

Alternatively, if your MIL went into respite care, the property would not be included in the assessment until a decision is made about long term care.

I would ask for a social care assessment if mil has assets/savings under £23,250 excluding the property she lives in. If she is assessed as having care needs you could see if you could get what the council would pay towards the care as a direct payment. Her savings could then be used to top up the difference between the bill and what the council may pay, which may slow down what is spent from the savings. There may be conditions from the council as to what the direct payment can be spent on but usually there is information on this websites.

Deferred payments cannot be used for home care as your home is discounted when being financially assessed for home care. In my experience older people social care don't tend to fund live in carers.

You can look at CHC funding, however please be aware that there is very strict eligibility criteria and your mother's needs will be assessed on their unpredictability, intensity, complexity and nature in 11 domains. Very few people are eligible.

Goodness - there seems to be quite a flurry of activity on my thread this evening! Many thanks for all your responses but I actually created this thread a year ago and we managed to get my MIL into a care home about 3 weeks after my initial post.