My mum was moved from a Section 2 to a Section 3 and she didn't have challenging behaviour. I never found the answer as to why she was subject to a section 3 order, although she'd started suffering badly with psychosis (very distressing), and she'd been placed on a psychiatric unit and then sectioned. The outcome was I was told she'd never be allowed to return to her home, and I then wanted to find a care home as quickly as possible to get her off that ward.
My mum would have the care home fee paid at the rate the local authority went up to, but I wanted to move her near to me (York), and it was a different council, so the top-up fee was going to be higher. In this event the Section 3 actually helped me. As Louise says, someone has to sign to say top-up fees will be paid but, if I remember rightly, unless a person is subject to a117 order you can't use their money to pay this extra amount, but if they're on a Section 3 you can. In other words, without this, I'd only be able to put her into a local authority home, as opposed to a private one, unless I had the money to pay a few hundred pounds a week extra, which I didn't. I found a home I liked and I had to go through the courts to become my mum's deputy, so I could access my mum's bank accounts, and was able to pay myself back what I'd had to pay out for a few months before that was granted.
Louise mentioned that, 'If the section 117 aftercare stops then the top-ups will need to continue unless the care home is happy to accept local authority rates, but couldn't continue to be paid out of your mum's money, a third party would have to pay. ' My mum was in her care home for five years and every so often I was asked to sign to agree to the extention of 'deprivation of liberty', as she was in a secure, locked unit of the home. So I assume the section 117 was kept in place once it was granted, and the top-up fees weren't a problem. My mum's pensions covered this and it was me and my sister due to inherit, so we weren't financially depriving any hopeful relatives.
As others have said, it's not really about the facilities; it's about the care and concern that your mum receives. My mum loved her various gardens and working on them. The home I chose was a converted farmhouse surrounded by rolling countryside. As far as I know she only once ventured outside the home to be in the gardens when we were there for a fete, and she had to be coaxed out by one of the lovely carers. It's such a horrible decision to have to make, and you just have to go with your gut. Does it seem like a place where people will care about her?