Financial assessment worries

[Am59]

Hi, my husband who suffers from Parkinson's disease dementia had to go to a nursing home assessment bed after 3 weeks in hospital in November (2 weeks in isolation as a fellow patient got covid) and I couldn't cope at home with his falls and the stress of keeping him safe. We have just been turned down for CHC funding. A social worker phoned yesterday to start the process of who pays. My husband has £16,000 savings.but I don't have an income at all. He is 74 and I'm 61 so no state pension for me for a while. He has a main pension and a.smaller local authority one plus his state pension. I'm so worried that they are going to leave me hardly anything to live on or cover the direct debits. I'm waiting for the financial assessment person to ring me. The nursing home is £850 a week. My husband has been awarded the £183 nursing care payment. They say he needs to be in a nursing home but I don't know Get why he didn't get CHC as his behaviour was unpredictable. He fell and broke his nose in.the home last week. I know I can appeal of I have the energy. I just feel so anxious about who is going to pay the difference between his nursing care payment and the home fees. Any advice is so welcome. Thank you.

 

[Sarasa]

Hi @Am59, I think it might be worth contacting the Dementia Connect support line: 0333 150 3456 and dementia.connect@alzheimers.org.uk to talk through the process and what you can do to ensure that your husband gets the care you need and you get the support you need.
I'm sure other who know more about applying for benefits for yourself will be along soon, but maybe it would be worth contacting the Citizen's Advice bureau to find out what benefits you can claim. I found this information on their website that might be of use Benefits - Citizens Advice

 

[canary]

As your husband has under £25,000 savings the LA will start to pay towards the fees. They will work out what your husbands contribution will be and the rest is payed for from his savings. As his savings go down, the amount that the LA will pay will go up. Once his saving are under £14,000 the LA will be paying their maximum amount.

You will need to have a financial assessment in order to work out what the contribution will be. Until then, you should not pay any fees.

The only thing that might cause problems is that not all nursing homes will accept the LA rates and they would then want a "top up" fee, which has to be paid by the family. I remember from your other thread
https://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/threads/maintenance-of-house-now-husband-refused-chc-funding.125753/ that you do not have much income, so when you are agreeing to which nursing home he should go to, make sure that you choose one that does not require a "top up". The Social Worker should be able to help you with this.

Also in this thread I explained that you can apply for half of any private/occupational pension of your husband (though not his state pension) and you may be eligible for other benefits too.

 

[marionq]

I think you too need an assessment of your own finances to see what benefits you will be entitled to once your husband is in full time care. During one of my husbands hospital stays I got a phone call from a social worker attached to the hospital offering to do this for me. I didn’t need it as I have my teachers pension but I thought it would be very useful for some others and the lady was lovely who approached me. If you phone adult social services at your local authority office they should be able to advise who would do this for you.

 

[jennifer1967]

i phoned age uk and they do it as well but the greatest help was from welfare rights man from the council who also helped to fill in the form using more professional language.

 

[Am59]

Thank you so much for your replies. It's reassuring to have this forum to ask questions. Helplines are ok but i spent ages waiting to speak to someone when my husband was in hospital.

 

[Am59]

As your husband has under £25,000 savings the LA will start to pay towards the fees. They will work out what your husbands contribution will be and the rest is payed for from his savings. As his savings go down, the amount that the LA will pay will go up. Once his saving are under £14,000 the LA will be paying their maximum amount.

You will need to have a financial assessment in order to work out what the contribution will be. Until then, you should not pay any fees.

The only thing that might cause problems is that not all nursing homes will accept the LA rates and they would then want a "top up" fee, which has to be paid by the family. I remember from your other thread
https://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/threads/maintenance-of-house-now-husband-refused-chc-funding.125753/ that you do not have much income, so when you are agreeing to which nursing home he should go to, make sure that you choose one that does not require a "top up". The Social Worker should be able to help you with this.

Also in this thread I explained that you can apply for half of any private/occupational pension of your husband (though not his state pension) and you may be eligible for other benefits too.

hi thanks for your reply. Do they take fees from savings? I know there is something about them taking £1 for every £250 in savings over £14,250. It won't take long for his savings to go down if they use it for fees. I know you said I would be ok to buy the new boiler out of his savings but it looks suspicious of I do that now.

 

[canary]

I know you said I would be ok to buy the new boiler out of his savings but it looks suspicious of I do that now.

No it wont. So long as you keep the invoice and can show what you have used the money on there shouldnt be any problem. In fact, now is the time to make sure repairs are in place as it will make everyones life simpler.

I know everyone is a bit scared of SS, but the chap who came and gave us a financial assessment was lovely - very fair and efficient. This was pre-covid, so Im not sure what they do now, but he just came and checked the paperwork over, chatted to us a bit and that was that. There was no quibbling over money spent, although he did ask about one or two things - not in a nasty way, just to clarify it and was quite happy with the answers. He also told us that we would get an extra allowence if you are dealing with incontinence as he had spotted a payment for a kykie sheet in the bank statement, which I hadnt known, but I dont know if all LAs do this. I asked him about deprivation of assets as I knew the car would need replacing very soon and he said that was not deprivation of assets and to just keep the receipt/invoice

 

[Banjomansmate]

They cannot expect you to go without heat and hot water because your husband needs residential care. Get the new boiler replaced as soon as possible . If anybody queries it say it was already being arranged before these problems blew up!