PAYING FOR LONG TERM CARE
The Government
has finally announced the changes it will make to the way long term care costs
in England are subsidised from 2016.
But it will be many years before they affect anyone. So if you or a relative are in care now or expect to be soon and are worried about the cost, there are things you can do to avoid or reduce the cost of paying perhaps £30,000 a year for long term care in a home. These rules apply throughout the UK, though there are minor differences in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
First, should
the NHS pay? If your primary need is for health care then the NHS should pick up
the whole bill for your nursing home fees. The first thing you have to establish
is that the primary need of the person in care is a medical need
– what
is called a primary health care need - as opposed to just social care. Remember
medical needs change
–
usually for the worse
– as we
age and someone with a social need one day may well have need medical care to
survive at a later date. You apply to the Primary Care Trust in England and the
corresponding body in the rest of the UK. In England there is a deadline of 31
March to put in a claim back to April 2011.
Second, will
the local council pay? Normally it will. But the help is restricted in two ways.
First, the council will only pay a limited amount for care
–
usually the charges it will meet are the cheapest locally available. Second, the
help is means-tested. Income is above
£23.50
a week is normally taken to pay the bill. And capital above
£10,000
will also reduce the help available. The value of the resident’s
former home is taken into account as capital in some circumstances. But the fear
that
‘I will
have to sell the house to pay for my care’
is always ill-founded.
First, the
value of the former home is ignored in full if the person’s
partner
–
married or not
– is
living there. It is also ignored if a relative aged 60 or more lives there and
it can be ignored at the local c9ouncil’s
discretion if a younger relative or an ex-carer lives there.
Second
–
despite what politicians and newspapers say
–
no-one can be forced to sell their home to pay the fees even if it is left
empty. Instead they can get what is called a deferred payment agreement. Under
this deal the bill clocks up month by month interest free. The local council
takes what is called a
‘charge’
on the home so when the person in the care home dies their former home is sold
to settle the bill. Meanwhile of course the home could have been let out. And
the person in the care home will count as a
‘self-funder’
and can claim a benefit called attendance allowance to help with the costs.
Normally there will still be a lot of value left in the home for the heirs to
share.
Using these
tips the cost of care can be reduced, even before the Government’s
new scheme begins in 2016.
Paul Lewis
14 February
2013
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