Financing for care homes

[Ellisisland]

Hi, my grandfather has dementia and is likely to go into a cadre home shortly. We are at the early stages of this process and were told by the local council we could speak to a financial advisor but so far we haven't heard anything so was hoping someone here may able to shed some light on what may happen financially

My grandparents own there own home but I think there is a small mortgage on it ( my nan hates discussing money so it's sometimes hard to know exactly what's what) there current combined income with pensions etc is around £1200 a month. They do have savings but again not sure how much.
Can anyone explain how a care home finance plans work? Will they take my grandfathers share of the house? His pension to pay for it ? We are looking at council sponsored beds in homes not private.

Any help at all would be appreciated. Thank you

Hi and sorry you are going through this . It orks slightly differently in different places but generally The house won't be taking into account as your Grandmother lives there (assuming she is over 65). They will look at his share of the savings. If they are over 23k then he will be classed as self funding until he reaches that level.

For a single person, if they are funded by SS their pension is taken apart from about £23 a week, don't know how it works for a couple. It is worth having a talk with their Local Age Uk branch or Alzheimer's Society who should be able to advise you.

Thank you that's really helpful. I'll definitely look at age uk to get more info. Thanks again

Get power of attorney for health and finance- or get your mum or someone closer to do it if that's more appropriate. Quite apart from anything else it looks like your grandad wouldn't have capacity if anything happened to grandma and you'd be in the realms of court of protection and all sort of complex stuff

Agree about attorney for health and finance, that is crucial.

I understand that if your parents have a joint account, you are best off moving one parent's share into their personal account, that way the care homes can't get at it. You should not be paying fees out of a joint account.

If you sell the house to free up capital (and move your mother to a smaller place) it will just mean the authorities can go after that so it is not really in your interests.

Make your accountant your best friend.