Order of things when parent considering a home

[PercyPigs1]

My Dad is going to view a residential home shortly as he has started to realise he's struggling to manage and we can't get carers x 4 a day. He has savings over the £23k threshold and a house. Am I right in thinking he can go into the home and we have to deplete his savings until he gets to the £23k before the financial assessment ?

Correct

Is he going alone?

There are usually council recommended people for the 4x a day? Has he got a Social worker? They usually help with this kind of thing . Go around and view as many as possible. You can usually book a week's respite .

I am taking him to view the home - it's just him as my Mum has passed away. I think after the savings we'd also need to sell the house before we could apply for financial assessment ?

Yes unfortunately he will need to sell the house unless he qualifies for NHS continuing healthcare (this is a high bar).

One suggestion is to pick the nicest and most suitable one, rather than doing the maths of how long his money will last or look at cheaper ones.

In our experience (sample size 3, granted) if someone has been in a residential care home a long period of time, when they run out of money and the council has to start funding its way too much hassle to move them to a cheaper one.

Good luck, it's tough on everyone.

Does he have any nursing needs, is he seen by district nurses at all? Or do you envisage he will in the near future? Some homes are solely set up for residential care and if he got nursing needs he may have to move again, just something to consider.

Is your Dad in England?

The value of the house will be included in his savings as part of the financial assessment. He will then be assessed as needing to pay all his care fees himself. How you do it is then up to you. If you can manage to find £1000pw without selling the house(eg renting it out, and using his workplace pension, savings and attendance allowance) then you don’t need to sell it.

while he’s completely self funding you should apply for the non-means-tested Attendance Allowance. It’ll cover 5 - 10 percent of the fees for you. But you’ll lose it as soon as the Council starts contributing.

Yes, he's in England