I have been told that the current threshold for receiving free care is £23,000 in savings and property (known as capital), but also from April 2016 (next year) the threshold with change to £118,000 of capital if you are in a care home or £27,000 if you receive care in your own home. Two questions here is the property ALWAYS taken into account in the threshold and what happens when you fall below that threshold does the care then become free?
Financial Thresholds for Care
- Thread starter Stan123
- Start date
Assume England.
The upper limit is currently £23250 and the lower limit is £14250.
Below the upper limit the LA starts assisting with residential care.
With capital between the limits a tariff of £1 per £250 is payable.
If the care is non residential the upper limit applies but different LA's have different funding rules.
In April 2016 the upper figure was going to be £27000 which increased if a property was involved, it was nothing to do with the person being with the person being in a care home. The implementation of the relevant part of the Care ACT has however been delayed until 2020. This does not mean that the upper and lower limits will not be increased by some amount.
Any property is disregarded in certain circumstances, the most notable being that a spouse remains in the remains in the property.
The upper limit is currently £23250 and the lower limit is £14250.
Below the upper limit the LA starts assisting with residential care.
With capital between the limits a tariff of £1 per £250 is payable.
If the care is non residential the upper limit applies but different LA's have different funding rules.
In April 2016 the upper figure was going to be £27000 which increased if a property was involved, it was nothing to do with the person being with the person being in a care home. The implementation of the relevant part of the Care ACT has however been delayed until 2020. This does not mean that the upper and lower limits will not be increased by some amount.
Any property is disregarded in certain circumstances, the most notable being that a spouse remains in the remains in the property.
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Hi, thanks for the detailed response. So the property value is only taken into consideration when the patient no longer lives there, but not whilst they are still living in the house is that right?
If the care is non residential - not in a care home - there is no national standard of assessment but LAs should comply with
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...rer_Charging_Guidance_final_2013-06-20_rc.pdf
Have a look on your LA's web site for information.
EDIT
I've sent you a PM with a link to my LA's charging policy.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...rer_Charging_Guidance_final_2013-06-20_rc.pdf
Have a look on your LA's web site for information.
EDIT
I've sent you a PM with a link to my LA's charging policy.
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Are you sure about that?
The link you provided is dated 2013 so may well be out of date now. I am not sure what happened before this April but under The New Care Act there is now a national, single level, eligibility criterion to decide who qualifies for care and support provided or arranged by the local authority in whatever setting.
There is also a financial assessment for those who need care in a setting other than a CH and is covered in Annexe C Sec 38 of the Guidance. It guarantees a minimum level of income that LA's must ensure a person is left with before charging them for services.
If the care is it at home then have a read of this AgeUK Fact Sheet......
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rc...7p6I_--b92oRrDw&bvm=bv.98476267,d.ZGU&cad=rjt
Ignore the parts at the beginning regarding the proposed changes in 2016. The main part is based on the new system as of April this year.
Whether at home or in a CH the care provided by a Local Authority is very rarely free to the user as the LA will normally take any state and private pension to cover the cost.
If the care is going to be in CH then it all depends who is left living in the property on whether or not it is included as capital.
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