Nursing home fees question

[StiffyByngsDogBartholomew]

hypothetical scenario...

Charles looks after his wife Maureen at home. Her care needs, if he can't look after her, require nursing care. Social services have confirmed that they would fund any nursing home and that Charles would pay £80 p/w top up for a local authority room in the lovely nursing home where she has previously had respite.

Charles can no longer look after Maureen at home and she goes into the home. He pays £800 a week top up for a nicer room than the one provided by local authority but soon runs out of savings. He decides he no longer wants to stay in the family home and sells it so he can fund the top up and moves into a flat.

wouldnt Maureen become self funding in this scenario ? I would have thought that Charles would be expected to use Maureen's half of the property to pay for her care. Can Charles use the entire money from the sale to buy an extremely nice flat in a very nice position where he would very much like to live ? Or can he only use his half ?

can anyone advise.

It depends whose name the house is in. The LA only look at the funds that relate to the individual in need of care, and not to assets of anyone else. If the house is jointly owned then half of the profit from the house sale would be regarded as the wife's assets and yes this would probably put her outside an SSD funding - so she would have to pay the full cost until her savings dwindled again.

If she is needing nursing care it is worth looking at Continuing Health Care Funding, as this is health service funded and bears no relation to anyone's assets and is based solely on need. Look at https://beaconchc.co.uk/ for advice on this.

The house is tenants in common 50% each

it's an idea being tossed around and I expresssed doubt that it would work as he expected. I would have thought a lifetime mortgage on the property they are in would be a better option if this was something he wanted to do

she still wouldn't get the room he would want with CHC and it's very doubtful she would get it

I'm assuming the £800 pw is a typo.

Had a similar scenario with my Dparents. DM in care, already self funding as she had more than the £23k in savings. Dad sold the house and bought a retirement flat which did cost more than half of the house equity, and he then split the remainder 50:50, with half put into Mum's account to pay for care home. The argument being for spending more than half the equity was that if the miracle cure for Alzheimer's came along, Mum would move into the flat with Dad, so still her 'home' if you see what I mean. Can't exactly recall who advised us to do this, we were talking to people from Aged UK and others about the financials

However what the situation would be when Maureen is already receiving some financial support from LA, I don't know.

We found the Aged UK (pretty sure it was them) very helpful. The website has lots of articles to read through but there was also a phone support service. At the time (during 2nd lock down), you had to email them and they matched you up with a expert adviser. The chap we spoke to a couple of times knew his stuff and gave very clear advice.

www.facebook.com/groups/safeguardingfuturessocialcaresupport/?ref=sharen

This Facebook group will answer your questions. Helped me so much.

"I'm assuming the £800 pw is a typo"

no, that was the top up dad paid last time she was in for respite. SS paid about 800 per week making thr room £1600 per week

they are both still at home in the house they bought in 1977 but that's getting increasingly unrealistic.

she still wouldn't get the room he would want with CHC and it's very doubtful she would get it

My late OH got the room we wanted for him and he got CHC (on appeal).

Mischance, mums needs don't fit the criteria for chc.
she is paralysed but can assist with transfers, she can feed herself, she can't speak but can communicate when simple closed questions are used. the only main issue is her catheter blocking. I've been advised on various places and the matrix indicated she wouldn't get it.
id love to be proved wrong though

There are different contributions because a respite place is classed as non residential due to being non permanent hence why he would have had to pay such a large contribution.

So Charles has not yet sold the house
Is the house potentially rentable, assuming needs complete freshening up, smoke alarms fitted etc?

Thanks @OnlyYellowRoses I hadn't considered that.

Definitely not, carpet in bathroom, typical older generation big house with large garden. 1980s kitchen and bathroom, 1970s carpets etc. Would need a lot of work to be rentable abd not sure what the rental market would be for a 5/6 bed. The houses here never make the listings though, they are very sought after for buyers.

We had Council help and a legal charge put on DM's house as she met their criteria for having little cash.
We rented it and annually I presented a statement of her affairs to their accounts team who monitored the size of 'the charge'.
I reckon that as soon as Charles and Maureen sell, Maureen will lose her £800 a week help and be entirely self funding,

Will DM you.

Talk to Beacon as per link above. It really is worth looking into. I have both worked this system professionally and personally on behalf of my OH.