deprivation of assets question

[supporter1]

My father has dementia and is in care home funded under 117. My mother is living with support from us in sheltered flat. Mum is reaching the point where she needs a bit more care and we were going to just pay for a couple of hours home care for bathing assistance. She would be paying if under council because their funds are just over the limit.

Mum has asked that we arrange for pre payed funerals for both her and dad which we feel is a fair request ( she had seen advert in paper and felt that she wanted this all sorted . She has just lost her brother so guess she is thinking that it would be a good idea to arrange things. She asked us because we have enduring powers of attorney .

We would like to investigate this possibility as per her request as that is her desire.

Doing this would bring mum and dads finances below the council threshold and therefor it may mean she also gets housing benefit for sheltered flat..

Would the council accept this as appropriate use of funds or would they say it was deprivation of assets ?

I feel it is a reasonable thing to do and it is at her request ( she is able to make some decisions and we are ok with this just a little worried as it is potentially £ ( I have no idea of cost at this stage).

Obviously we have no gain from her doing this just do not want to do anything that would cause issues.

Anyone know where to look to find out if this is an acceptable thing to do?

thnx

 

[2jays]

As far as I know, having read on here, paying for a funeral plan is not considered Deprivation of assets

From reading on here.... Make sure when you take out and sign the plan, it is exactly what is wanted.

It has been known that a funeral plan taken out over 3 years ago didn't quite match, when it came to be used, to what was actually requested at the time.




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[Chris-G]

My father has dementia and is in care home funded under 117. My mother is living with support from us in sheltered flat. Mum is reaching the point where she needs a bit more care and we were going to just pay for a couple of hours home care for bathing assistance. She would be paying if under council because their funds are just over the limit.

Mum has asked that we arrange for pre payed funerals for both her and dad which we feel is a fair request ( she had seen advert in paper and felt that she wanted this all sorted . She has just lost her brother so guess she is thinking that it would be a good idea to arrange things. She asked us because we have enduring powers of attorney .

We would like to investigate this possibility as per her request as that is her desire.

Doing this would bring mum and dads finances below the council threshold and therefor it may mean she also gets housing benefit for sheltered flat..

Would the council accept this as appropriate use of funds or would they say it was deprivation of assets ?

I feel it is a reasonable thing to do and it is at her request ( she is able to make some decisions and we are ok with this just a little worried as it is potentially £ ( I have no idea of cost at this stage).

Obviously we have no gain from her doing this just do not want to do anything that would cause issues.

Anyone know where to look to find out if this is an acceptable thing to do?

thnx

I agree with 2jays.

Mum's solicitor also was of the opinion that prepaying funeral plans did not abuse the CRAG rules.

I was interested in a payment plan so that her income was partly used up during a period of CHC funding but the solicitor did not think that was wise.

Good luck. CG.

 

[FifiMo]

If you are going to do this then please pay it in full and not pay it up. If you pay it up and then the person goes into care then the chances are that the LA won't provide extra allowance for the payments to continue.

If you haven't already done so, make sure your mum is receiving the benefits she is entitled to - eg Attendance Allowance if she is now in need of extra care.

Fiona

 

[supporter1]

Many thanks for the answers .

I think it will be a pay off all in one go but because it is her request that my fathers funeral is paid for too we may be thinking quite a bit of money .

Yes she is in receipt of attendance allowance and once the funerals are paid we will be looking into housing benefit too to cover some of her rent as she will then be below the limits on savings.

It is all so worrying , trying to do the right thing is not always as clear cut as it could be.

I think because I know it can be quite expensive for funerals I was a bit worried. Logic would say that was a reasonable thing to do but councils are not always logical...