Care Home Fees: What you need to know!
Currently in the UK people needing residential care are entitled to support from their Local Authority provided that they have an income of less than 23,000. Furthermore if your income is 14,000 or less you will be entitled to full support from your Local Authority. If your income is between 14,000 and 23,000 you will be required to contribute 1 per 250 between 14,000 and 23,000 for example should your income be 15,000 you will be required to contribute 4 per week towards your care.
Need for constant medical care
It should be brought to the attention however of those requiring care that should they be categorised as requiring constant medical care then you may qualify for free care should your application for continuing care be successful for this to your Primary Trust or NHS board. The NHS states that constant medical care is defined as care that is provided over an extended period of time to meet physical or mental health needs that have arisen as a result of disability, an accident or illness.
Home owners
The Local Authority is entitled to consider your home as part of your income or capital after you have been in care for more than 12 weeks. But it is highlighting that those who reside in their home with their spouse/partner or a relative over the age of 60 or below the age of 16 cannot have their home counted as capital or income. This is because the law states that only the income and savings of the individual only should be considered in determining the funds and assets available for use in paying care homes.
Case study of Mrs. X
Mrs. X resided in her property with her husband and daughter with them all having an equal share in the property known as a joint tenancy. However Mrs. Xs daughter could prove that she had contributed to the house and its mortgage payments since 1991.
Sadly Mrs. X required constant medical care and Council Y tried to seek the cost of the care home fees by placing a restriction on the property through the Land Registry. This meant that the property could not be sold without the care home fees being paid.
However with the help of The Legal Practice Solicitors we were able to help Mrs. X recover her care home fees and have the charge removed. We did this by proving that due to the mortgage payments since 1991 Mrs. Xs daughter could be seen as the sole owner, this claim was backed up by the fact that Mrs. X required constant medical care therefore we argued that the Local Primary Care Trust should cover the cost of the Care Home Fees as Mrs. X was entitled to continuing care. We were even successful in getting the legal costs of Mrs. X back.
To find out how the Legal Practice Solicitors could help you with discovering what you REALLY should be paying for your care home fees and how we can help you resolve any issues with Care Home Fees that you may be entitled to have paid by the Local Authority contact us on 0208 903 7017.