Attendance Allowance and Care Home

[Crunchybiscuit1]

My dad has recently gone into a care home and gets Attendance Allowance. I live far away so don't visit or make contact often . Will the care home tell me if my dad has a change of circumstance that I need to report to the DWP eg if he goes into hospital for more than 28 days?

You need to tell DWP that he’s in a care home - it’s possible his payments will stop unless he’s fully self funding

Why are you worried about his money if you aren’t in contact?

It is normal for a care home to tell a nominated family member about any hospital admission if they have their contact details IME.

Not the care homes responsibility.

Surely you would expect to be told as soon as your dad was admitted to hospital, not just if he was there long enough to need to inform the DWP.

Because somebody has to report it to the DWP, and presumably the OP is that somebody.

Surely they need to know he’s in a care home?

If not self funded attendance allowance should stop after 28 days

Do you have POA in place?

You night already know this but I'm reiterating it so you don't get caught out. If he gets any form of state funding for his nursing home fees AA has to stop.

In Scotland if you get your Free Personal Care or Free Personal and Nursing Care allowance despite the fact it's a tiny proportion of the actual fees your Pension Age disability payment stops. Pension Age disability payment = Attendance Allowance in Scotland.

I found this information really hard to pin down when I was looking.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I’ve told the DWP that my dad has moved into a care home. I am also his Power of Attorney so am assuming that I would be the person who is expected to tell the DWP about future changes in his circumstances. Which I can only do if the care home tell me about hospital stays etc.

Regarding Attendance Allowance and my dad’s funding status, he has capital above the £23,250 threshold for Local Authority funding. I’m still waiting to get the LA financial assessment outcome letter, but the person I spoke to in the LA finance team said he would be charged at full cost. The care home invoice the LA and the LA invoice my dad for the full amount (though I was told weeks ago that an invoice letter was coming but it hasn’t yet arrived - I’ve chased it several times by email but haven’t got a reply!)

Does anyone know if my dad still counts as self-funding if the LA initially pay his fees but he is then charged at full cost so they get their money back?

He’s fine. He’s self funding so he keeps the allowance.

Again, why would they not tell you if your Dad was admitted to hospital?

This all seems very weird, why are you worrying if they’ll tell you he’s been in hospital after 28 days? If you’re worried he could be in hospital more than 28 days without you finding out, are you not addressing your concerns about the car home? You should be confident they’ll tell you on day 1 of any admission, latest! They should be telling you when he’s unwell not just when he’s been in hospital more than 28 days!

I agree this is an odd thing to be worried about. My mother's care home informed me of every fall or bump my mother had. She went into hospital on a couple of occasions and I was contacted before she even arrived there.

If he's self funding, he keeps his Attendance Allowance. If he starts to receive local authority funding the LA will send you a letter which informs you that you need to cancel his AA.

What arrangement do you have with the care home OP? You need a proper contractor saying who does what when.