Selling home to pay for costs.

I think that, as with so much of modern politics, a lot has been talked about but little actually done. Citizens advise or AgeUK are probably the best places to go fro information.

This idea was one of many put forward to the government in a report it commissioned to help it reach a decision on policy for the care of the elderly. It was never a government policy.

Recently the government announced that to spare people selling their houses to pay for care, people would only be expected to pay the first £75,000 of care costs. After that the government would pay. However this is a snare and delusion and will be of little use to most people. If you are in a care home this limit does not cover the 'hotel' functions of your care costs, board, food, etc etc and the care cost will be calculated not on what the home is charging for the care but what your local Social Services would pay for the care they assess you need if your fees were being paid by the Local Authority.

To give an example. If you are paying £650 a week for a care home and Social Services assessed that you had care needs to the tune of £200 a week, only the £200 would count towards the £75,000. At £200 a week you would need to be in care for 350 weeks before you reached the magic £75,000.

Meanwhile you would have to pay the £650 a week for your care for 350 weeks, that is £227,500 and assuming you are in care for 7 years, and very few elderly people are, at the end of that period all you would get from the government is the £200 a week care costs leaving you with £450 a week bill still to meet

Sorry! but I am having a one woman campaign against the phrase,
"Selling you home to pay for care". Its a very common but slightly misleading sound bite. This concept really does frightens a lot of elderly people.
So as not to scare any one wanting care at home it should read. "Selling their former homes to pay for permanent residential care.

www.firststopcareadvice.org.uk/faq-parents-sell-their-home-to-pay-for-care-fees.aspx

If one of a couple is in a care home and the other remains in their home it has to be disregarded by Social Services and is not taken into account in assessing your father’s ability to pay for his care. The spouse will not be required to sell their home.
Social Services also have to disregard a house if it is lived in by a relative aged 60 or over, an incapacitated relative, a child under 16 for whom the resident is responsible for.

Social Services also have the discretion to ignore the value of homes in other circumstances, such as if it is lived in by a carer who gave up their own home in order to provide care.

You can read more about paying for a care home in our leaflet Care Home Fees: Paying them in England (PDF).
I hope this helps.

Thanks, Nellie. Common sense at last.

Thanks to those who answered my question which was whether plans to set a specific amount had been abandoned. I am not interested in current rules which are of course available on the 'net' (If anything, there seems to be an overload of duplicated information).
Thanks FlicketyB. I had not heard of this scheme although as you indicate, this would be of very limited help.
I was told that if admission into a care home is considered necessary on certain health grounds (dementia?) then the charges are waived: however I have not been able to verify this.

Unless things have changed.......more than likley, but even if there are 'reason's behind a care home admission i.e. a need for high level care for medical grounds, its only the medical/nursing fees than covered. Ordinary day to day care AND that can include such things as dressing and personal care, will be charged for.

Nelliemoser

The one situation you did not mention is if a house is jointly owned by a parent and offspring and the offspring occupies the house as an owner occupier the council can not force any sale or put a charge on the property to pay for the care.

Frank

davidfromkent, if you move into a nursing home, usually directly from hospital, because your medical condition requires nursing care then the NHS will pay part or all of your fees, depending on how much nursing you require. This can cover some cases of dementia, for example when the condition is so severe it requires the care of psychiatric nurses.

However for those going into an ordinary care home, you are on your own resources until your savings fall to around £27,000, then Social Services will contribute to an increasing share of your residential costs until you reach £14,000 when they are responsible for all of it. However each county sets a maximum rate it will pay per week. In my county it is £450 a week. If your fees are higher than that you either have to move to a home charging £450 or less or find someone, possible your children, to pay the balance between what Social Services will pay and what you are actually paying.

FlicketyB

It is Social Services responsibility to find a home at the rate the council is willing to pay not the relatives.
Again the council did a try on.
The usual rate was £550 at the time but the only home which would take the mother charged nearly £800 per week as the mother's needs were so high.
The social worker did say the daughter was liable for the £250 per week which she could not afford to pay. The daughter was a pensioner.
The daughter was not in any way legally obliged to pay.
After some argument full NHS funding was agreed and neither the daughter or the mother had to pay anything.

Frank