Contribution towards cost of home visits

[arielsmelody]

My MIL lives alone and has recently started having home visits arranged through the Local Authority. She has just under £16K savings and her only other asset is her home. She's getting a small pension with pension credit and the lower rate of attendance allowance.

She's had a financial assessment, and is paying about £46 a week for one care visit a day. She's due to have extra visits soon, but we aren't sure how that's going to affect how much she pays. Is it likely to go up to pay for the extra visits? Would her income be allowed to go below the standard pension plus pension credit of about £151, or is that the limit on what they would ask for?

 

[jaymor]

I have no idea if things have changed since my husband was assessed but I can tell you how he was assessed.

He had been offered two days a week at a day centre. When his assets were assessed they said he could afford to pay just under the cost of the two days, it was only a pound or two. So the LA invoiced us for this each month. Towards the end of him living at home they added another day to give me more respite and this was free to him because he was already paying the maximum he could afford as assessed. So our monthly invoice from the LA remained the same.

If your MIL assets are low then there has to be a top limit she can be expected to pay each week so if she is paying the maximum she can now then they can't ask for more.

 

[jeany123]

We pay the same each week for however much care either home or day centre, my husband has, the only thing we pay extra for is respite x


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[Pete R]

She's due to have extra visits soon, but we aren't sure how that's going to affect how much she pays. Is it likely to go up to pay for the extra visits? Would her income be allowed to go below the standard pension plus pension credit of about £151, or is that the limit on what they would ask for?

No personal experience but from the Statutory Guidance of the New Care Act Annexe C Sec 46 covers income and care outside of a care home environment......

"Minimum income guarantee.....Local authorities must ensure that a person’s income is not reduced below a specified level after charges have been deducted. This must be at least the equivalent of the value of Income Support or the Guaranteed Credit element of Pension Credit plus a minimum buffer of 25%. "

I think that would work out to be £189/week.

It goes on to say.....

"The purpose of the minimum income guarantee is to promote independence and social
inclusion and ensure that they have sufficient funds to meet basic needs such as purchasing
food, utility costs or insurance. This must be after any housing costs such as rent and council
tax net of any benefits provided to support these costs – and after any disability related
expenditure."

How they work out the amount to charge should have been clearly explained in writing so maybe worth giving Social Workers a ring.

As long as the MIG is sufficient they will want to reclaim the AA and there may be a small amount from her capital. When/if the saving fall below £14250. The LA are responsible for paying but will still be able to take the AA.

As your MiL has property she might be offered a Deferred Payment Agreement where any costs are offset and the LA recoup the money on death or on sale of the house. Again this should have been explained.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/care-act-2014-statutory-guidance-for-implementation

Age UK Fact Sheet 46 might be useful reading......
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rc...7p6I_--b92oRrDw&bvm=bv.98476267,d.ZGU&cad=rjt

Hope that helps.

 

[arielsmelody]

Thanks! I haven't seen any explanation of how they worked out the charge, but there are a number of different family members involved so somebody somewhere might have the paperwork and not thought to pass it on.

The AA is around £50 so I think we can be pretty sure that they'll take all of that when the extra visits start. She gets extra pension credit because she gets AA, but I'm not sure how much of that they would be entitled to take - I guess it depends on how the minimum income guarantee plus 25% safety buffer works. Thinking about it, that extra pension credit tops her income up to around £190 a week, so maybe it already includes the safety buffer element and wouldn't be taken away.