Deprivation of assets

First time poster.
My circumstances are that my mum, 89yrs, has spent the last 4 months in hospital. She went in with a relatively minor complaint but caught various infections, MRSA and pneumonia whilst in there. She was wasting away and had given up. We decided to take her out and she now lives with my wife, daughter (25yrs) and me. We have redesigned a ground floor room (no initial outlay) to accommodate the specialist bed etc. She is bedridden and due to extremely fragile skin cannot be handled very much. We provide 24hr care and I mean 24hr!!
My wife and I have stopped working to care for her.
An average nursing home costs about £1000 - £1200 weekly.
My issue is this - Can I bill my mum’s estate for care we provide if she needed to go into residential care or will I be accused of deprivation of assets? She has no savings but owns her home.

Kind regards.

You may of read this if not might be useful.

Chris who has more knowledge will come along shortly.

You really need specialist advice on this. Really it would be much better for her to pay you a weekly rate, officially using a payroll service. That would be a proper wage, NI, pensions contributions etc. As she is so frail, she might be eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare, which can be used to pay you.

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As she is so frail, she might be eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare, which can be used to pay you.

Agreed … main CHC thread :

https://www.carersuk.org/forum/support-and-advice/all-about-caring/chc-coughlan-grogan-judgements-nhs-contuing-healthcare-nhs-fnc-hospital-discharges-all-under-this-one-thread-35998

If ever granted , FREE at the point of delivery … either at home ( See POINTON section ) or in a nursing home.

Deprivation of Assets ?

A ticking time bomb if specialist advice is not sought to make things as watertight as possible under current law.

One of better " Bibles " out there … AGE UK ( Who else ? ) … 18 pages worth in .pdf format :

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Factsheet 40

Deprivation of assets in social care

September 2019

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs40_deprivation_of_assets_in_social_care_fcs.pdf

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Can I bill my mum’s estate for care we provide if she needed to go into residential care or will I be accused of deprivation of assets? She has no savings but owns her home.

Nothing to stop you " Charging " your mother for caring services provided.

Trouble is , needs to be done by the book … your relationship changes to employer / employee … and EVERYTHING associated with Employment Law kicks in.
( TaxMan and if claiming any benefits , the DoleMan … ( HMRC and the DWP in new money ) … pensions / holidays / Health and Safety … records … etc. etc. ).

Alternatively , one might explore the annual limit on gifting monies WITHIN the context of deprivation of assets ???

I will assume that your mother’s interests will be taken into account ???

Who speaks for her without having an interest ???

Thank you for your replies.
I’ll read the articles as suggested.

Thankfully my mum is capable of understanding what is happening.
Both my sister and I have EPOA.
I will contact the solicitor we use for advice and the way forward.
I was interested to know whether anyone else had approached this subject.

Kind regards.

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I was interested to know whether anyone else had approached this subject.

In the context of this forum , a few of us get to know various subject matters … given the sheer number of times we post in reply to forum members.

( CHC / NHS Continuing Healthcare … I created the main thread in response to the number of queries coming in … a definite decrease since I did so. )

Even less occasionally add their own experiences whenever they have had the same issues to deal with.

A lot like mud … it tends to stick ?

Thank you.

I’ll tell you a bit more about my situation with my mum.

My mum was very disabled for many years, and I had always done lots of odd jobs for her, without financial reward.

After a bad fall which broke a leg, then major surgery to save her leg, and 5 months in hospital, she could only move round her bungalow slowly, with a Zimmer frame.
Having previously rejected all idea of outside help, she reluctantly agreed to have carers into the house to do the basic personal stuff, washing, dressing, meal prep. My sons and I did anything else that was needed.
From then on, we both knew that without my help, she would need to be in residential care. (Carers had tunnel vision. They would go to Tesco and buy raspberries, but were not allowed to pick mum’s own raspberries in the garden!).

As I was recently widowed, unable to work because I’d been in a car accident that left me waiting for two knee replacements, mum was happy to give me some money and pay my expenses like fuel. I wasn’t on any benefits, owned my own house, so this wasn’t doing anything unlawful.

With my help, mum stayed at home for 7 years after her accident, saving her about £1,000 in care home fees, a total of £350,000, when her house was valued at about £250,000. She only spent the final year in a nursing home. As a result, mum left me some money from the sale of her house which has enabled me to go travelling again, every time I go anywhere, I think “Thanks Mum”.

Thank you.