Care home top-up fees

[veryfondoftea]

We are starting to look at care options for my mother who has dementia.
Costs for this are outrageously expensive in our area. Around £1700 a week. If we sell her house we can self fund this for 3 years.
She has no other savings, so as I understand it, once the money from the house sale runs out she will be entitled to council funding.
What I cannot work out is how much this will before?
I am presuming it will not cover the £1700 and I see that there is usually an option for a third party ( this would be me) to pay a top up fee to keep her in the nicer/ more expensive care home.
Is anyone able to give me an idea of how much this top up fee is likely to be? I realise it will vary but anyone who can give an example from their own experience would be helpful.
Thanks in advance

She has no money at all apart from her house so a live in carer is not an option unfortunately

Isn't there a maximum amount of mono that can be taken for a person for their care ?

I mean money 😊

There is no cap on the price of care.

People are asked to self fund if they have more than £23,000 in assets (may or may not include house, depending on circumstances).

Once their assets drop to that level the local authority/NHS steps in and no more of their assets can be asked for, but they still need to contribute from their income. There is a limit on that, though, they can't be asked for their entire income - they keep some for personal spending.

Hi OP,
I think you would be better to rent rather than buy if you go for the retirement flat option as obviously your mum's dementia will progress and that will make moving on so much easier. What I can't understand is how this living arrangement solves the issue that you mum is terrified of being alone? Yes there are facilities on site but she will still be living alone?

You have said that you were interested in selling both your mums and your property and buying a bigger house but that it is problematic as when your mum needs residential care her money is tied up.

Have you considered selling your mum's property to rent a suitable property? You could potentially rent your house out or if you have adult children living there for example they could continue living there and covering the bills at yours.

I just looked on rightmove for my area (town in the west midlands) for example, and for £1300 a month there is a very smart 4 bed detached house with a downstairs cloakroom, family bathroom and one of the bedrooms has ensuite bathroom. Assuming your mum paid the rent (as you are living there to help care for her and perhaps you have paid off your own mortgage anyway) and if your mum paid a contribution to the bills she could also spend £500 a week employing a carer for company in the day while you are at work before she has spent the £4k that just the rent in the retirement complex would cost (before you add service charges? and any care costs - as well as having lots more company.

Perhaps have a look if there is much available in your area of a size that would be suitable for living together and the cost of it.