Care home charges: professional advice

Hello everyone,

I am about to start researching a good option to speak to a proper specialist financial advisor by phone and/or email.

The topic is care home charges for my father.

He hasn’t gone into care yet. I think he will be a self funder.

About 30k cash he has, and he owns two properties, but the properties are where I am looking for advice.

He lives in one and rents the other.

Apparently, different people own different percentages of the properties between him, me, and my sister.

If anyone can recommmend someone personally to advise, thank you.

@AJ2024…hi, I believe once his savings go below £23,500 then social services fund it. However, I don’t know how it works with regard to the properties other than if another family member was living with him in the property he lives in and
is over 60 the property is exempt from being included in any financial assessment. Maybe speak to the carers uk helpline as they are very helpful and would be able to advise you.

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Start by checking if he is entitled to free care with NHS Continuing Healthcare if he is very ill. You need a solicitor familiar with Community Care rules to deal with the aspect of shared ownership.

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Thank you both. I never even thought to try the carers uk helpline!

The document i read about NHS continuing care makes out like the individual must barely be alive to qualify it, unless thats just what the NHS/Government want you to believe.

@AJ2024…from what I’ve experienced so far it’s difficult to get confirmation of when nhs continuing healthcare funding applies but do check it out as @bowlingbun suggested.

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Don’t be fobbed off by being told “he won’t get it”. Make sure they go through the checklist stage, that you get a copy, and that it is accurate. You should be involved in this process. At some point he will sadly get worse, and so any future deterioration can be measured against that. It’s very much a postcode lottery I’m afraid. Maybe Labour will sort it out?! Which did a study a few years ago, when I was trying to get it for mum. If I remember rightly, in Hampshire 34 people per ?50,000 were receiving CHC whereas in Lancashire it was nearer 800!

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So if anyone else lives in the property that he lives in and they are one of these groups:

His partner
A dependent
Someone with a disablity
Someone 60+

Then they have to exclude the property from calculations.

In terms of the joint owners, if this is official and - as long as he didn’t transfer ownership after it might be expected he could go into a care home, they should just be able to touch his share. However, you need to check this out.

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