I think it's also important to remember that if a person disposes of assets to avoid paying for care, it's not a victimless thing. Yes the LA will be paying but you know what? The people who ultimately pay are taxpayers (be it national or local).
I'm awfully glad we're talking assets here and not Dead On Arrival. That was a noir film of the fifties. Good one too.
Where a resident has £23,250 or less but more than £14,250, assess the resident's ability to pay in the normal way and take into account, as weekly income, £1 for every complete £250 or part of £250 over £14,250. This is called "tariff income". Regulation 28
A tariff income table is at Annex B
Examples
1. The resident has £14,750 capital. The £500 above £14,250 is counted and a tariff
income of £2 is taken into account as income.
2. A resident has £18,100 capital. The £3,850 above £14,250 is counted and a tariff income of £16 is taken into account as income.
N.B. Tariff income is meant to represent an amount that a resident with capital over a certain limit should be able to contribute towards their accommodation costs, not the interest earning capacity of that capital.
Where capital is taken into account and a tariff calculated the actual interest earned will not be treated as income, to avoid double counting in the financial assessment.
If the interest is not drawn and therefore increases the capital value of the asset, it will be treated as capital in future reassessments.
Has your mum already got a funeral plan? If not, then this is a legitimate expense and would bring her savings down a bit.
As this government have now made it possible to get hold of your pension and blow it all on world cruises and flashy cars, will this result in deprivation of assets actions being taken in the not too distant future?
I am guessing only if the person was aware they might be needing care in the not too distant future.
I've always wondered what classes as an expensive holiday though. World cruises of course but what about specialised holidays for people with dementia like Revitalise or Dementia Adventure? They are not cheap cheap, though they are actually subsidised to a degree, but nursing care or bespoke packages come at a price. Seeing that in a lot of cases it's the only holiday some people can take, would that be taken into account if the council looks at holiday expenditure?