Care home costs

[MrOllivander]

My mum is still in hospital at the minute, and my dad is worrying
They said they will do a financial assessment but briefly there are -
No assets
No house
Mum has state and private pension which I guess they will take?
Dad has state and private then a joint one with mum. Do they take any of that? I've been trying to look but it's really unclear, dad was getting carers allowance which will stop. The rent alone is about £500 and there's nothing cheaper about - plus council tax, water, energy etc, car insurance, debts...

This seems quite comprehensive

www.carehome.co.uk/advice/how-moving-into-a-care-home-affects-your-pension

It looks like half of her private pension and presumably half of her share of the joint pension can be given to your dad? And she'll be left with £20 odd from her state pension

Thanks, that's helpful
Unfortunately despite my nagging for months, he didn't get POA so I'm not sure how that will affect the "choosing" about the private pension?
She doesn't have capacity (early onset Alzheimer's)

Effectively his bills are still really that of a working age person because he's paying rent etc

OK- if there's no POA and you're certain that she cannot give informed consent, it's likely that someone will have to apply to the Court of Protecting to be her deputy. Applying for deputyship can be a long enough process (I'm in the middle of it rn)

I don't think you would need POA for the pension to be split as that is something that is an entitlement, but, you would need Deputyship to be able to talk to pension providers etc I would have thought?

Capacity is decision specific.

The other thing is that the COP may well award Finance and Property deputyship to you and / or your dad, but they don't often hand out Care and Welfare Deputyships - so in general if a problem comes up, you will have to go to the COP for a determination.

I can recommend the firm of solicitors that I'm using if you want? You can do the paperwork yourself too...

Consent wise... they rang my dad to ask if they could have permission to sedate her for an MRI as she's uncooperative so I'm guessing by that, they're seeing her as not having capacity?

They will only assess your mum on what income she has coming in and what savings she has in her name.

50% of her private pensions can be kept by your dad.

The local authority can also use their discretion if its clear that your dad's income plus 50% of your mum's private pension isn't enough for him to live off and allow him to keep more of her income.

Your mum will also be able to keep £25 of her income per week for herself for toiletries/ haircuts/ new clothes etc

Also, unless she has any significant income/ savings/ assets that need active managing then getting deputyship is a waste of money as any (small) amount she will have to pay for for her care can probably be paid for by your dad out of their joint account. The state pension can be managed under appointeeship arrangements.

They've already been assessed for carers allowance which they get so I would assume that's an indication that they are eligible for some sort of reduction in costs