Financial assessment

yorkie46

Registered User
Jan 28, 2014
413
0
Southampton
My husband has recently moved into long term residential nursing care. I will need to complete a financial assessment with the local authority to determine his contribution for his care. My question is what expenses am I able to claim in respect of our home, will he be expected to pay anything or will I be expected to pay all costs eg council tax, utilities and insurance?
 

thistlejak

Registered User
Jun 6, 2020
486
0
Unfortunately you will be expected to cover most of the costs of your home. Your husband can pay half of the insurance and any repairs but not the bills. You will get council tax reduction as a single person living there.
If you husband has a private pension he can give half of that to you. You might be able to claim pension credit depending on your circumstances.
If you husband is self funding then , if he gets it now, his attendance allowance will continue. If LA help with funding then that will stop.
One thing I would suggest is that you splits up any accounts/savings that are in both names into individual accounts -it will make things easier going forwards, as you are not liable for any care costs for your husband .
 

yorkie46

Registered User
Jan 28, 2014
413
0
Southampton
I have previously split some joint accounts. Now have joint current account but I also have one in my own name, any money paid into joint current account is my husband's pensions. Attendance Allowance is already stopped. We have a joint savings account which they only take half of into account as his, I didn't know if I can still split this now or would it be considered deprivation of assets? He has one other savings account in his name. The total amount in both savings accounts is below 23,500. I will look into pension credit but don't think I will qualify but I think it will be a struggle to meet the running costs of our home.
 

canary

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
25,018
0
South coast
You can split the joint savings account 50-50 without it being considered deprivation of assets as half is considered yours. Make sure that each half goes into an account in your own names. I would do this now, because otherwise the money will come out of it towards his care and that means that you will be contributing to it.

Have you requested half of his occupational/private pension? This is something that you are definitely allowed, but I believe that you have to request it.
 

yorkie46

Registered User
Jan 28, 2014
413
0
Southampton
Thanks @canary I will get to the bank next week to sort this out. I did know about claiming half of his private pension though unfortunately this won't amount to much. He never had an occupational pension. I believe I can claim half of his small annuity too, is that correct?
 

Thethirdmrsc

Registered User
Apr 4, 2018
744
0
Hi @yorkie46 having just been through the assessment I can say it is a soulless process. I was able to keep just under half of one of his 3 private pensions, which was £400 per month. His portion of the savings were calculated from the day that he went into care, but I had to use that for the backdated care home fees since the assessment took so long, and they never bothered with the amounts after that. You can fudge the figures, but they ask for bank statements 3 months prior, and for the same period 1 and 2 years back. He gets £29.30 per week, but I now have to use that to buy pull ups which the home doesn’t provide. It’s a sad irony that the house he owns half of, he doesn’t pay for.
 

MartinWL

Registered User
Jun 12, 2020
2,025
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67
London
The cost of pull ups is his cost not yours so spend his funds on that. His funds can be used for his half of insurance and maintenance of the house but not for things that are only needed by you. Unfortunately this is a common situation where previously shared living costs fall upon one spouse resulting in financial reduced circumstances.
 

yorkie46

Registered User
Jan 28, 2014
413
0
Southampton
Hi @Thethirdmrsc, I have done an assessment before but that was for short term respite and non residential care. I didn't find they required too much information but guess it might be different this time. I'm just not sure how I'm going to be able to pay all the bills from my own pensions, guess it's going to eat into my savings.
@MartinWin terms of maintenance of the property would that include repairs to the boiler or heating system or just the fabric of the building.
I feel like in a catch22 situation. I'd like to move to a more suitable property but that may be difficult as my husband owns half the property.
 

MartinWL

Registered User
Jun 12, 2020
2,025
0
67
London
Hi @Thethirdmrsc, I have done an assessment before but that was for short term respite and non residential care. I didn't find they required too much information but guess it might be different this time. I'm just not sure how I'm going to be able to pay all the bills from my own pensions, guess it's going to eat into my savings.
@MartinWin terms of maintenance of the property would that include repairs to the boiler or heating system or just the fabric of the building.
I feel like in a catch22 situation. I'd like to move to a more suitable property but that may be difficult as my husband owns half the property.
I am not sure about the boiler issue but I would be inclined to say that was the sole responsibility of the person living in the house. The owner is responsible for the fabric of the building but it matters not a jot to him whether the interior is nice and warm or freezing cold so I don't think he is responsible for maintaining the boiler. Probably a bit of a grey area but the only challenge is likely to be from the local authority who might see the PWD residing in a care home as guilty of deprivation of assets if his savings were used for example to replace the boiler in the part-owned house. On the other hand they might decide it wasn't worth a fight over a grey area.
 

duchess55

Registered User
Sep 1, 2021
138
0
He
Hi @yorkie46 having just been through the assessment I can say it is a soulless process. I was able to keep just under half of one of his 3 private pensions, which was £400 per month. His portion of the savings were calculated from the day that he went into care, but I had to use that for the backdated care home fees since the assessment took so long, and they never bothered with the amounts after that. You can fudge the figures, but they ask for bank statements 3 months prior, and for the same period 1 and 2 years back. He gets £29.30 per week, but I now have to use that to buy pull ups which the home doesn’t provide. It’s a sad irony that the house he owns half of, he doesn’t pay for.
I am shocked that you have to provide your own pull ups
 

lollyc

Registered User
Sep 9, 2020
947
0
He

I am shocked that you have to provide your own pull ups
I'm not! Mum went into repsite for 2 weeks and we were expected to provide them. I sent her without, assuming they would be included in £1250 per week. Nope!
 

canary

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
25,018
0
South coast
Personally I would think that replacing a defunct boiler was indeed part of house maintenance as if a house is kept unheated the fabric of that house starts to deteriorate. What you are doing when you use his money to pay for half of house maintenance is keeping the value of the house. As he has a legal interest in the property, then it is to his benefit to maintain this interest and the LA recognises this interest. If the house goes to wrack and ruin, then the value will be lost. Obviously, you need to use common sense - if you installed an indoor heated swimming pool, or paid thousands for the wallpaper, the LA would not accept it, but general maintenance to keep the value of the home is fine.

What I would suggest @yorkie46 , is that you make sure you keep all receipts for any maintenance done, so that you can justify it if there is any query about sums removed from his account.
 

MartinWL

Registered User
Jun 12, 2020
2,025
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67
London
Personally I would think that replacing a defunct boiler was indeed part of house maintenance as if a house is kept unheated the fabric of that house starts to deteriorate. What you are doing when you use his money to pay for half of house maintenance is keeping the value of the house. As he has a legal interest in the property, then it is to his benefit to maintain this interest and the LA recognises this interest. If the house goes to wrack and ruin, then the value will be lost. Obviously, you need to use common sense - if you installed an indoor heated swimming pool, or paid thousands for the wallpaper, the LA would not accept it, but general maintenance to keep the value of the home is fine.

What I would suggest @yorkie46 , is that you make sure you keep all receipts for any maintenance done, so that you can justify it if there is any query about sums removed from his account.
I suspect that you may be old enough to remember the time when houses did not generally have central heating at all and they didn't go to wrack and ruin. I remember the coal fire at my grandparents' house! But I think you make a good point that the criterion is maintaining the value of the property. That excludes making improvements of course. It is all a bit grey and nebulous.
 

canary

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
25,018
0
South coast
I suspect that you may be old enough to remember the time when houses did not generally have central heating at all and they didn't go to wrack and ruin. I remember the coal fire at my grandparents' house!
Yes, but most homes nowerdays do not have coal fires - there is central heating, and often nothing else. I only have central heating in this home. When mum moved out of her bungalow to move into her care home I switched off the boiler (she had no other heating) and the home became so damp that the wallpaper peeled off the walls!!!
 

Andy54

Registered User
Sep 24, 2020
241
0
A way to view what is reasonable expense for maintaining home would be to compare with what would be the landlords responsibility if you were living in a rented property. I think that the boiler would certainly qualify.
 

yorkie46

Registered User
Jan 28, 2014
413
0
Southampton
Thanks @canary , @MartinWL and Andy54 for all your advice. I've just been dividing our joint savings so that all my husband's money is in one place which will make it easier to deal with when doing the financial assessment and to keep track of in future. I'm going to bank to register POA next Monday. Hopefully I'll get everything sorted out soon!
 

MartinWL

Registered User
Jun 12, 2020
2,025
0
67
London
A way to view what is reasonable expense for maintaining home would be to compare with what would be the landlords responsibility if you were living in a rented property. I think that the boiler would certainly qualify.
I am not sure that is the right parallel. Rather it is the work needing to be done to maintain the value of the property assuming it to be empty. That might include basic gardening. If anyone lives there they need to pay for anything more than that. Heating is a grey area if the property is in good order. In reality the question is what the loca authority will accept.
 

Andy54

Registered User
Sep 24, 2020
241
0
I would say that repairing or replacing a faulty boiler comes firmly into the category of property maintenance especially if @yorkie46 is still living there. A boiler as a fixed installation should be regarded in much the same way as for example the plumbing or electrical wiring so it is not unreasonable for the costs to be shared.
 

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