Mum's money in her old age!

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Can anyone offer any advice?
My Mum is 81. Recently moved into a retirement flat which she rents. When her house sells and added to her savings she will have around 320000. Her pension covers her rent etc comfortably. Has no plans to buy another property. So far so sensible. Both me and dsis are happy that this will pay for any care needs she might have in the future.
My question is, can she spend her money now as she sees fit. For example, she would like to pay for my dbro to come to the UK for an extended holiday. Possibly give him some money to tide him over whilst he is unemployed. If we eventually get to the point where she has got down to the minimum amount and qualified for help, who deems what is reasonable before she is seen as depriving herself of assets?

Will watch this thread with interest....hope you get some replies OP
My Mum is 85 and recently gave me £10k for home improvements...... she currently lives alone, is fit and healthy.....has no care needs, has no diagnosis of any health condition .... takes no medication...... am hoping no one asks for the money back down the line.

Yes, that's kind of my concern. Well really it's not even that. The person who would benefit would be my brother but he would have no means of making it up. It would be MY problem (as always!)
Equally I don't want to be the bad person in stopping her, or suggesting it's an issue. She has always been sensible but wanting to pay for a holiday for him (she has always gone there before) seems pretty reasonable to me!

Does she currently have any care needs or long term health conditions?

No, she is living indepently. Memory is not what it was, but otherwise fit and healthy.

I think she is allowed to gift money to you or brother from her income - check the limits on gifting. Under £5K per year is probably allowed.

She can also give away capital and then if she lives for 7 years, it is free from inheritance tax. but I'm not sure on the deprivation of assets issue.

My understanding is that the limit is quite low so she'd have to give away an awful lot to get down to the threshold for help (£23K?). Also, if she dies within 7 years of a financial gift, it still counts as part of her estate for inheritance purposes.

Oh yes - there's limits on tax free (to you/your brother) gifts per year if it's money. I think it's more if it's for something like a wedding.

If she's fit and healthy then she's just spending money like anyone would, isn't she? Different if she was about to be assessed as needing care. Otherwise no 80+ year old would be allowed to go on
Holiday or anything!

Following this, my87 year old grandfather is about to move to a warden rental, still living fully independently, he is selling his place and wanting to gift me and my brother 50k each, my concern is if he was to need care in the future. I raised this as a concern. His pension covers his day to day living etc and he does have some tucked away. My brother would blow his share so I’m worried I would then be liable for costs.

I think you can give away as much of your income as you want. So if you spend less than your income you can give the rest away.
Savings are limited how much you can gift. It's something like an annual limit, which isn't particularly high- £3000. But you can carry it over to the next year, so £6k over two years.

Nursing home fees in our area (north England) are around £1k per week

Seems unlikely she will run out of cash self funding such care unless she is planning to give away a huge chunk.