care home

Hi guys

Its been a while since I have been on here, so I thought I would just pop on to ask your invaluable information.

On the beginning of this month, my mother went into respite care on the premise of turning long term , as things came to a head so much so that I could no longer cope, so this really is the best thing for her. The Care home she is in seems very nice as I dropped some things off the day after, I asked about her and she seems to be doing well, but I will leave it a couple of weeks for her to settle in.

I have been told now social services means test her assessing her finances, then it depends whether she will pay part, all or nothing at all.

She doesn’t really have any bank accounts, the only bank account is a Joint one, which is used for Direct Debits, we prepared for this so we did this years before, thus my question, how do social services gauge this, as we have over 30,000 in there, but that fluctuates according to our Direct Debits?

I am ok in our house as we have a joint tenancy with L&Q, I checked this earlier and have kept the email in case it comes up.

Samantha

If its a joint account, half counts as mum’s. My mum and I had a joint account, it was all her disability benefit going in, but I could spend it if I needed to (long story) so grudgingly only half was counted as hers when the council assessed her. So she qualified for subsidised carers at home rather than having to pay the full cost! Joint accounts are a useful way of reducing LA charges. If one person dies, the money automatically belongs to the surviving person.

Thank you :pray: BowlingBun, informative as always, I thought this was the case just nice to have it confirmed

Makes you mad though, as my dad has worked all his life and paid his taxes, I suppose like most people.

I had to sell mum’s house to pay for her care. Tried really hard to get Continuing Healthcare, definitely should have qualified as she had 28 different health issues, couldn’t even roll over in bed. Sadly, I realised I was on the verge of a breakdown and just had to give up battling for CHC for the sake of my mental health. My dad was a government scientist all his working life, so it seemed extra cruel.

I had to sell my Mum’s house too to pay her care home fees. I still can’t look at the photos of her house and garden on the day I locked it up for good. It was just an ex council house which they rented for over 30 years before finally managing to buy it in 1986 under the right to buy scheme. They loved that house, we all grew up in it, the garden was huge and lovingly cared for and it was a warm, sunny house with distant sea views.

Thats terrible Bowlingbun and Penny, well this is L&Qs house so it won’t happen there, I would of liked to have bought it but we it just wasn’t possible on my wages alone.

Yes Bowlingbun, I think I was close to having a breakdown, I already had the depression and suicidal thoughts, also while I was trying to get her taken to hospital and eventually care, I kept breaking down crying at the drop of a hat, not me at all, and as my brother and sister know, it takes a lot for me to ask for help, but saying that even I had to admit to myself in the end she needed to go into a home, much to my sisters and brothers relief.

Anyway along with my sister, we are in talks with Social Care at the moment, to try to get her something more longterm, which will not only benefit her, but me as well, just hope they listen, but everything seems to be going in that direction, she even seen the doctor at the care home and he diagnosed severe dementia!!, so surely that’s reason enough she needs something more permanent.

It is such a relief that she is safe and getting the care and attention she needs, its like a weight has been lifted :smiley: , so now I have a question :confused:, as I have just received a letter from the DWP, to let my mother know the AA I get for her will be increasing, I see they have to know the date she went in, but do I have to let them know now :-??? , even though I don’t know myself
what the outcome willl be?

I’m afraid the DWP letters can be very tactless, after mum died the way they demanded return of the unpaid pension was dreadful!
They need to know about any “changes in circumstances” so yes, be sure to tell them.

Here is my very “rough guide”. As always, the CUK helpline will be happy to give you a much more detailed assessment.

Whether or not she keeps all her benefits depends on who pays for her future care.

If she gets NHS Continuing Healthcare, then the NHS pays for all her care, and she will continue to receive her pension, in full. (I’m not sure about AA).

If no CHC granted, then Social Services will expect her to pay the full cost of her care until her assets fall below about £23.000. towards her care from her savings and pension after a detailed financial assessment.

Once her assets fall below about £23,000 she will start to be subsidised by Social Services.
They will leave her with around £25 a week for “personal expenses”.

So you can’t do anything until they have done a CHC assessment.
This MUST be done before SSD do their assessment.
No one from SSD should be asking any questions about her assets at the moment!

Thank you Bowlingbun again, well as I might of mentioned in previous posts, we have a joint account, so really I suppose the only savings that they will take into consideration for her, is half of that account as she doesn’t really have any others and that’s nowhere near £23,000.

Yes I did see and plan to tell the DWP but when do I do that, are you saying to wait until I have the CHC assessment?

At the moment, we are waiting to hear back from a Social Worker, as to whether she will be staying in the care home.

Thank you Bowlingbun again, well as I might of mentioned in previous posts, we have a joint account, so really I suppose the only savings that they will take into consideration for her, is half of that account as she doesn’t really have any others and that’s nowhere near £23,000.

Yes I did see and plan to tell the DWP but when do I do that, :-??? just to check, are you saying to wait until I have the CHC assessment?

At the moment, we are waiting to hear back from a Social Worker, as to whether she will be staying in the care home.

Tell them now. Any “change of circumstances” should be reported asap.
Then you will have to wait and see if anything changes, and when.
Then you will probably have to contact them again.

Ok thanks for confirming x