Sale of home to fund care

Commonground

I think I remember reading somewhere that,when a property is sold to fund care, the local authority takes all but £100k. I've tried Googling this, but all I get is info on Johnson's proposed £86,000 cap. Can someone help, please?

I think labour have/or are getting rid of the £86,000 cap, just having a look myself, my dad now needs care

Just read on community care, that Rachel Reeves has cancelled the cap on care fees, this is to fill in the black hole of £1.1 billion

There is no cap any more. I did see that taking the average care home stay and the average cost, people will be paying an average of £17,000 more than £86,000

You would be wise to speak to a soliciter who specialises in such matters then s/he will be able to advise you on the best strategies to save as much as you can.

Thank you, biglouis, for answering my question.

Labour has removed the£86,000 cap on care home fees.
They will only offer some help if yoursavings are below about £23,500 fees. When they are right down to £14,000ish they will help more.

There never was any cap as far as I know, it’s been debated but never implemented.

Once people are down to 23,000 which includes the value of any property, they will get some help. Not a lot, not enough, but this could have been done and dusted by our erstwhile Tory government which did nothing. No surprise there.

The proposed cap was never put in place. In any case it was never meant to cover the ‘ hotel’ costs, just the ‘ care’ element.

As far as I am aware, if a house is sold to pay for care costs, you become self-funding and ‘pay as you go’.
My mum died just seven months after moving into care, and the family used some of mum’s savings to pay; the money from the sale of the house was not needed. The local authority couldn’t touch it.
I suppose it could be a bit different if your money runs out and you are waiting for the house to sell.

However I would rather my savings / house money be used to pay for my care and be comfortable than have to rely on the local authority’s poor provision.

Great, work hard, save hard, pay taxes the government takes the majority to pay for the care- on the other hand you piss/ smoke your money up the wall, don’t work, it gets all handed to on plate free of charge

I saw this happen to a relative. The care costs spiralled but the care home couldnt touch the last 23 thousand. It is a lucrative thing running a care home. A licence to print money.

It might be better and cheaper if people hired nurses or carers to keep a loved one at home. There is 24 hour care that can be in someones own home.

There is so much confusion and misinformation about all this. I would strongly suggest that you go onto the Age Concern website where they explain all the details ... and keep these up to date. You will get accurate information.

There are situations where you do need to sell your home to pay for a care home ...... if your care is permanent and there is no elderly relative still living there. But it is all outlined on the website.

It is worth saying that virtually all care homes are privately run. Local Authority provision has died out. Some residents are "self funders", some are being funded by the LA ( to whom they make contributions).

Thank you to those of you who answered my question. My father really wants to return to his home, but has a one bed flat. It's early days, and hopefully he will improve enough to be discharged to go home and have carers coming in.

Having carers 24 hrs can cost more than a care home and the responsibility is still on the family . Every time a problem occurs they’ll contact you to deal with it. On top of carers wages you still have to run the home- heat, light, food, repairs, council tax etc
The care home looks after them 24hrs and the problems are then removed to a great extent. Also, residents get great healthcare in a home whereas at home it’s up to you to arrange. My dad’s care home has Dr on call (& visiting every week for one am), chiropodist, hairdresser, dentist & optician, & a physio(once a week) care homes also provide entertainment & nice events so residents are not lonely or bored.
The burden of home care is huge - sounds better but in my opinion isn’t - fit the reasons above.

Yes, the disadvantage of 24 hour carers is, you need a second bedroom for the carer to use, the carer is also entitled to a 2 hour break each day. And yes you still have to run the house. I think it would be worth it for couples where one of them needs care and they want to remain together in their own home, though.

You are right of course, that the care home offers all of the above benefits.

So yes, if part of a couple I think 24 hour home care could work but if single, better to go in a carehome. Or if other partner can't cope, better to go in a carehome.

People used to really fear going in care homes, but from what I've seen they are very nice.

It's worth considering if letting the persons home provides enough each month to pay care home fees.

If you are self funding you can go in care home if and when you want to, if you aren't self funding you have to have eligible needs before you are considered for a care home. You will need a care assessment followed by a financial assessment. If you have property, this either needs to be sold or you can ask for a deferred payment. If sold all the funds are used to pay for care. From £23500 the LA start paying some of the costs. It is however not until you reach £16.500 that you become totally funded. |At this stage you may have to move care home, if the home you originally chose do not accept LA funded clients. It is therefore best to choose a home which will guarantee you do not have to move if you run out of funds. although that does not give you so much choice and may not be acceptable to you either.
As far as the cap is concerned this was as many others have already said never put in place, discussed for many years what it would and would not cover and decided in the end it would only cover the actual care costs, but we now hear it has been totally scrapped. What a waste of money, time and effort working on it for so long yet not putting it in to action. Here is |A||GE| UK link to who pays for care. www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/care/paying-for-care/paying-for-a-care-home/&ved=2ahUKEwjujujy292HAxWVVkEAHT9WNDgQFnoECBsQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0_wd5BEBEfvvMwQ9w71whp

Yes and we actually considered that for an elderly relative, but the home had become run down and needed a lot of work.

It's definitely worth considering, but for us the care home bill at the time was £1200 a week and rent that could have been fetched was only £300 a week, plus at times where there was no tenant we would have had to pay the bills.

We also considered Air B&B because it was in a nice location, but again not possible without living close enough to manage it ourselves, which was in fact the reason we couldn't do 24 hour care. As my friend who is a social worker explained, you need to visit daily to give the care worker a break and also you need to oversee them because they are often young people and can be lazy, so you need to make sure they are doing their job properly.

I hadn't realised that elderly care used to be covered by the NHS. But then Margaret Thatcher privatised it so now the costs of it includes profits for private companies, pushing prices up.
A friend shared this with me
tribunemag.co.uk/2020/12/when-margaret-thatcher-privatised-social-care

karmalady

There is no cap any more. I did see that taking the average care home stay and the average cost, people will be paying an average of £17,000 more than £86,000

There has never been a cap, the Tories postponed it several times.

There is still Continuity of Care funding, which is rarely talked about and hard to access.

Mt61

Great, work hard, save hard, pay taxes the government takes the majority to pay for the care- on the other hand you piss/ smoke your money up the wall, don’t work, it gets all handed to on plate free of charge

....and don't forget Rachel Reeves has removed the Winter Fuel Payment from all those pensioners who AREN'T on benefits.

I don't have the up to date info to answer accurately but Independent Age are a charity who do and they are very helpful

Care at home works when you can get paid carers during the day and family members do nighttime care, that was arranged for Father in Law, it lasted 2yrs. It does mean the family have got to step up and do the work, if dementure or aggression was involved home care may not be practical or safe.