What are the current rules around care home fees
Currently anyone with assets under £23,950 are eligible for help towards the cost of their care or their care home fees. Once a persons assets drop below £14,250 then the local authority will fully fund that persons care.
What are the latest changes to Care Home Fee Legislation
The Government have announced changes to the way Care Home Fees are funded.
Under the new rules anyone with assets under £100,000 will be eligible for help towards the cost of their care and once those assets drop to £20,000 they will be eligible for full local authority funding of their care.
The Government have also introduced an £86,000 cap which makes it sound as though nobody will ever pay more than £86,000 for their care. Whilst this sounds good, there is a catch.
The cap applies only to the nursing and assistance care that a person needs, whether it’s with washing and dressing, feeding themselves or managing health problems, it does not apply to the costs associated with every day living such as rent, bills or the cost of accommodation in a care home.
Anyone receiving care from October 2023 – including those currently in care – will have a ‘care account’ opened with their local authority, which begins adding up their eligible costs.
For example if someone is in a nursing home, the cost of the room and board may be £300 a week, and the cost of their nursing care may be £200 a week. The £300 payment is not included in the monies that will count towards reaching the £86,000 cap. So in theory if your care costs per year were £26,000 you could be paying £15,600 towards your care each year that does not count towards you being exempt from paying for your care, with only the £200 payment counting a total of £10,400 which would count towards reaching the £86,000 cap figure, so it could take over 8 years in care before someone reached the £86,000 cap, and to reach the £86,000 cap you would have had an outlay of some £208,000.
Can I choose any care Home I wish
Yes you can choose to move into any care home you wish but you may have to pay a 3rd Party Top Up Fee. This is because even though you are being funded by the local authority, they have a budget in terms of how much they will pay. If you choose a more expensive care home then you may have to make up the difference between what the local authority will pay and what the care home actually charge. This is called the 3rd Party Top up fee. It is usually paid by a family member on your behalf if you don’t have sufficient funds to cover it hence the name 3rd Party.
Can I do anything to protect my assets for my children?
Providing you have sufficient assets to pay for your care needs then you are able to dispose of monies as you wish. If you know that you will be needing to go into care and you deliberately give your house or your assets away then this is called Deprivation of assets and the local authority can look to reverse any transaction that has previously been carried out on the basis that you deliberately deprived yourself of assets, knowing that they would be needed to pay for your care.
However, if you are worried about the cost of care home fees it is advisable to make an appointment with a local solicitor as there may be things that they can suggest to put your mind at rest and to help preserve some of your estate for your loved ones.