Power of Attorney

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My elderly father has been admitted to hospital and as he was sole carer of my mother she has to go into a nursing home.
Social services have found her a place and have said i need to sort fees, nursing home have rung me and are sending paperwork.

I have power of attorney ( just financial) and haven't a clue about what i need to do.

Also what is limit on savings and do they both get that?

Really appreciate any advice.

Social services should carry out a financial assessment to see if they can fund their own care or not.

Threshold is £24500 savings round here

Age uk. Brilliant source of advice and support. No question too small.

Has she been admitted for short term care/ respite or is the intention that it will be a long term placement?

The financial assessment differs depending on what type of placement it is.

Is your dad able to do financial stuff, so he could write a cheque for the nursing home, or is he not able? If he isn't able, google ' power Attorney ' for the number to call or process. They need sight of the original (or certified copy) of the registered POA and if you don't have any account with them you'll need to prove your ID as well. Then they can issue you with a card etc as 'You Attorney of Your mum' and you can then manage the account.
You do need to keep careful records of what you spend
I found the AgeUK factsheets really helpful

In England the upper savings limit is £23,250, for an individual. A joint account would be halved. If someone has more than this they pay the full cost ('self funder'). Between £23250 to £14250 there is a sliding scale and once you get down to £14250 your savings aren't touched. Private pensions also taken into account. Social services should do a financial assessment to work out the 'means test ' of what the persons financial contribution should be. It ranges from full cost to no cost. So I don't know why they've told you to 'sort fees' unless they think your mum is self funding. As LPOA you are responsible I suppose. Plus you may be able to apply for FNC element (funded nursing care) if it's a nursing home. Age UK and Which have good fact sheets but I'd also ask the social workers for more explanations.

She has been offered place for 5 week respite but my mother has been controlling and violent towards him so safeguarding is now involved and looks like she will need permanent care. He has also neglected his health so that all needs sorting.
My father is unable to write a cheque and do not live near them.They had a financial assessment done two years ago, not sure if one has been done more recently. I can't imagine they have alot of savings although they have always been savers but their jobs were low paid, they do own their own small house.

Your mums share of any savings and her sole income will be taken into account for the financial assessment. If your dad returns back to their home then that property won't be taken into account if she remains in care and your dad can continue living there.

I'm surprised you are being asked to sort fees directly with the care home at this stage, particularly given the circumstances, so I would query that with the social worker and request that you want the local authority to make the contract with the care home and send you the bill to pay from your mums finances once the financial assessment has been completed.

Are you in touch with your DMs SW at all? I'd give them a call and ask them to clarify.

Power of attorney: does it have a raised stamp in the corner showing it has been registered with the Office of Public Guardian? If not, that needs doing. There's a fee of about £85 to do it. Until that's done you won't be able to use it, so you won't be able to access their money. Do not even consider using your own money. SS will be used to this situation and will be able to make provision.

If it is already registered, you can use it straight away. Whichever organisation you deal with will need to see it, so it's easier if you can go into a branch with the PoA and your id, and they'll just make a copy of it. If you have to send it by post, don't send the original, send a certified copy. If a solicitor drew it up they should have provided copies, or may be willing to provide copies for you. Otherwise, try the PO's document service - they'll do it for id documents for opening bank accounts (£12.75), don't know whether they'll do PoA's and whetehr they'll initial on every page, which is what is needed. Our financial advisor did ours (free).

Once each organisation has been satisfied by the PoA document, they will deal with you as if you were the account holder.

You have been given some great advice by necklessmumster

Nationally threshold level for local authority funding is £23,250 or less currently

Maybe she has a re enablement D2A (discharge to assess) bed from hospital which is health funded for up to ) weeks to rehab her ? Or have you been asked to self fund this?

. You have LPA finances so you should send her banks and savings accounts copies so you can complete financial assessment as they may not realise she isn't self funding

Please speak to someone who arranged placement from hospital to ask them under hat basis it is being funded

If there are joint savings them halve them so that you take into account only her share

Financial assessment for social care is what I meant.

But you must find out how much funds and savings your mum has. She gave you LPA finances and property for a reason and if she's unable to know what her funds are or complete financial assessment that's when you step in

Ring it through to local authority adult services/ adult health and care/ to register that you think she may have under threshold savings. Then even if it turns out it is incorrect, you have a date they can backdate to if she had under threshold savings

MereD.. also gives good advice

Sorry I didn't mean lie, I meant if you think she has under threshold (£23.250) savings but can't be absolutely certain as you don't know if there are hidden accounts you aren't aware of yet until you can do as reach, the. it's better to ring LA with a referral requesting assessment and possible under threshold savings than it is to take months to find that ours

*search not reach

See if you can get LPA in Health and Welfare if you can. Failure to do so and the LA can interfere with the money situation by the back door of your parent's 'best interests'. This translates in my experience as 'We'll do what we want to do and say it's in their best interests, you have a say but you're not the decision maker so sucks to you.'