12 Week Property Disregard

[falconplayer]

Long, sorry. DF moved into a care home last autumn, initially on a respite/temporary basis while adaptations were made to his house. He was self funding. Over the winter his condition worsened to the point he couldn't manage alone even with the adaptations, so he became a permanent resident in the new year.

His house was placed on the market and he/we (LPA) notified the LA and asked for a financial assessment/letter of undertaking arrangement, as we assumed that his money would run out before the house sold. We also asked them for the 12 week disregard, so they would pick up the costs in the interim. In the end, the LA took so long to process the paperwork that the house sold just as they approved the paperwork, so we didn't use the LOU scheme at all. He ended up owing a couple of months care costs to the home which were repaid from the sale proceeds, but he never benefited from the disregard due to the LA's slowness in dealing with the paperwork. They didn't begin to process it for 3 months so it seems like the delay is deliberate. We were told they don't backdate it but it seems very unfair, does he have any right to recover some of the costs? From what I've read from Age UK etc it seems that he was entitled to the 12 weeks paid care. Thanks

The disregard doesn’t mean he automatically pays nothing.
If your property is going to be included in the permanent care home means test, the council must ignore it for the first 12 weeks of your care. This is to give you space to decide what to do with your property and paying fees, for example whether to enter into a deferred payment agreement with the council. You will likely qualify for help with fees from the council for the 12 week period if your other capital assets are under £23,250
Did your DF have enough cash over £23,250 to pay for the care home fees?

If without the delay your DF would have been entitled to the disregard then you will have to make some noise. This is assuming information was given in time and delay was down to the LA. I've worked for an LA who do not backdate when the client or the representative does not give the information on time for an assessment even when it is completely beyond their control. They do however backdate if it is their delay and funnily enough there won't be an apology for the stress/ inconvenience or other issues that may cause.

At the point he/we filled in the financial assessment forms he was below the £23k but he was above that amount at the point he became a permanent resident. It went down quickly though due to the fees and paying for essential repairs on his house to make it saleable. We ended up making an arrangement with the home directly when he ran out of money completely, as they knew the house sale was quite far along. When the LA finally started asking questions they kept harking back to him being above the threshold when he became a permanent resident. Trying to get a straight answer from them is like nailing jelly to the wall.

Thanks, I'll start making some noise and see what happens.