Saga Care funding advice service
Making sense of paying for care
Many people do not realise that care, in most cases, is not provided free of charge – whether you receive it in your own home or in a care home, one way or another it has to be paid for.
Here is an overview of the support available should you or a relative require residential care. However, you should not rely solely on this information as individual circumstances may differ and you should obtain professional advice such as that offered by the Saga Care Funding Advice Service.
Moving to a care home
With financial help
If you have less than the upper assets limit (£22,500 in Scotland, £23,000 in England and Northern Ireland, £22,000 in Wales), you should receive some financial help from your local authority but will usually be expected to contribute to care-home fees.
Self-funded
If you have more than the upper assets limit (see section “With financial help”) you are unlikely to be eligible for help from your local authority and therefore may have to pay your own care home fees*. You normally agree a contract directly with the care or nursing home.
How Much
Assets below a lower limit (£13,750 in Scotland, £14,000 in England and Northern Ireland, £20,750 in Wales for 2009/2010) are ignored. You will usually pay £1 a week for each £250 of assets between the lower and upper limits. It is also likely that you will have to pay your occupational and state pension to the council, plus any benefits you are entitled to. The only income you can keep is £21.90 a week (£22.00 in Wales) for personal expenses.
Twelve week disregard
If your house is your main asset and your savings and investments are below the upper assets limit you may not have to pay for your own care home place immediately. If you have been assessed as requiring a permanent place and your income doesn’t cover the fees, the local authority should disregard the value of your home for the first 12 weeks of your care and help with payment as if you did not own your home. It will pay only up to its standard rate and you will be expected to contribute the majority of your income towards the costs.
Top up Fees
The local authority will normally pay for your care only up to an agreed limit, which may restrict your choice of home. If you would like to go somewhere more expensive, then it is likely that your relatives or another third party would have to pay 'top-up fees' to make up the difference.
Deferred Payments
After 12 weeks, local authorities run ‘deferred payment schemes’, where they can pay towards your care home fees for as long as you live, provided your savings are below the upper asset limit and you own your property. Normally, you continue paying what you can from your income towards the cost. When you die, they claim back the outstanding cost of this interest–free loan from the sale of your house. Although all local authorities offer these schemes, they are not obliged to accept all applications.
Saga’s Care Funding Advice Service can help you to consider all the options available to help pay for care and assist you to minimise the impact of long term care fees. To be put in touch with one of our care funding advisers or to request further information, call us on 0800 056 6101 stating reference number 5283S. Alternatively complete our online form
* The means test limit does not apply to people who qualify for either the NHS Continuing Health Care Scheme or under Section 117 of the Mental Health Act.
The Saga Care Funding Advice Service is provided by Saga Personal Finance Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Saga Personal Finance Limited is registered in England and Wales (Company No: 3023493) and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saga Group Limited.
Registered Office: Enbrook Park, Sandgate, Folkestone, Kent, CT20 3SE.