Care home top up fees

[zimmericious]

Hoping someone may have encountered this before! My mums carer needed a break and my went to a lovely home for respite care. Not yet at the point in relation to her assets where she would be entitled to funding but sadly we have had to decide she can't be cared for at home anymore. The social worker still needs to assess her but agreed with me on the phone she is very likely to meet the threshold for residential.

The home is a lovely place - caring staff, nice rooms, nice food, lots of activities. Not flashy but cosy. I have spoken to them about fees and this is where I am struggling to understand or believe them. They said that the council will likely assess her needs and say a cheaper home would be suitable. I know we can then choose a different care home - ie this one - but I had assumed we would then need to pay top up fees, which would be very difficult to do. When I said I was worried about this the care home said what usually happens is they go back to the council to say the fees aren't enough, the council refuses to increase budget. The home then asks the family for a top up. If the family can't do that then the home said they will only charge what the council will pay - ie top up fees are waived. They said they are a charity (it's a Christian home part of a large organisation) and that is the approach they choose to take.

I am really struggling to believe this. It just sounds too good to be true. I am terrified we will go down this route and my mum will end up needing to go to a cheaper home that I haven't researched and I won't know what it is like.

Has anyone seen this before? Is it possible?

She will run through her capital in a couple of months, and the council have said they will be able to make a decision now provided it isn't too long between the assessment and reaching the threshold. I am devastated my mum needs to leave her home and she likes it there - I have been in at all times of the day (including 2am!) to check on the care and I have always been satisfied. I just can't believe and don't really know what to do. If this is wrong then I want to start researching cheaper alternatives.

If that’s how they do it then I’d give the process a go. I’ve worked in a care home with a mix of private/ council residents and they were all well cared for, main difference was room sizes, council funded were smaller with shared facilities, sinks / commode in room. Privately funded mainly had en-suites.

Thank you - I will look at others in the area now as well I think so I can hopefully feel comfortable that somewhere else could offer the same level of care. She can't see much so it's not an issue if the sink is in the room etc - I have just got to know the staff as has she and I trust them.

I wish I had realised it was going to be for the longer term as I would have thought about long term budgets.

I can't ask the home again if this is really their policy. They are very patient with me but there must be a limit

Completing the financial information form now.

It does happen, in our area, the council will say they will pay £750 for example, we will talk to brokerage and say no, our fee is £900 but will take £850 from the council. Someone at the council will decide that its okay and we will get the £850 for the bed. There's a limit though, it wouldn't be agreed in a home costing £1300 a week. If its close though and both sides negotiate, it can happen. Especially if there's a bed or three empty.

I would be inclined to take them at their word. We chose a home for my late mother which turned out to be a charity rather than a business because it was the nearest one so it would be easy for my dad to get there even if he had to give up driving and then discovered the fees were considerably less than the other local homes run as businesses. What a bonus, that it wasn't just all about the money.

Does your mum have any assets eg home to sell? If so the council will usually fund until it's sold and you pay back. If no assets what you have been told seems right, negotiations begin and they accept a lower fee often. Also sometimes they have smaller or shared rooms for significantly less if needs aren't as high.

Your main issue is if this home is classified as full nursing with fees at that level and your mum is only classed as needing residential which is half the price approximately. That said everything is negotiable. When your mum is assessed do not underplay any issues and describe her worst days not her best!

This last bit is the hardest part. The reality is hard but we have always put our best foot forwards. But when you take the good intentions and efforts away she really can't do anything for herself.

Well...no one is saying that can't possibly be true so I will continue to hope and also research more homes again. For the respite care I read practically all the CQC reports for the homes nearby and I discarded any that didn't meet the good standard. But I don't know.

I just want to go to bed at night knowing she is safe and ok. It is so scary when you have to hand the care over to strangers

My DM is in a charity run home which is lovely. She receives the council funding and the family pay £95 a week top up which is worth every penny.