If self-funding (only property) is LA involved anyway?

beebee7

Registered User
Feb 13, 2015
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Not applicable
Good morning

Mum in mental clinic at the moment but her move to a CH is imminent. Meeting is next week.
My lawyer said that we should not mention private funding but upon reflection it would be private funding anyway because Mum owns her property.
With her various pensions and the money from renting the house I've calculated that a couple of hundred pounds a month would have to be paid by us. This would not be a problem.

However, I have read that it would appear in some cases that there are two different price lists, depending on whether the LA is paying or the person themselves. That's another discussion as to whether that would actually be legal. If this is the case then I am tending to shy away from involving the LA. In fact when Mum was allowing carers in (not for long, she refused them entry) we had to show what was coming into Mum's account and what was going out. And lo and behold the cost of the carers, cost exactly what was left over. Left me feeling very suspicious.

My question, therefore, is: should we "keep the LA out of it completely"?

Many thanks for your time.
 

Kevinl

Registered User
Aug 24, 2013
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Salford
You can't really "not mention" how her care will be funded the LA aren't going to forget about it they'll want to do a financial assessment before they pay anything other than the first 6 weeks when she transits from a "mental clinic" to a care home.
There is absolutely no need to involve the LA as long as you're doing what the best interest meeting agrees. It's entirely up to you (if you have LPA) how you handle the finances, sell the house, rent it out, it's up to you as long as you cover the care home bills and aren't asking the council to pay they're not interested. Only if in the future you did get to the point where you asked for council help might they look at how you've managed her money just so you haven't milked it dry so the council have to pay. The LA's negotiate a lower price with the care homes as they're "bulk buying" so they get a better rate, in a way that means the self funders are subsidising the council and because of this some homes won't deal with the council. In my view this is going to become more common, time will tell.
K
 

beebee7

Registered User
Feb 13, 2015
80
0
Not applicable
You can't really "not mention" how her care will be funded the LA aren't going to forget about it they'll want to do a financial assessment before they pay anything other than the first 6 weeks when she transits from a "mental clinic" to a care home.
There is absolutely no need to involve the LA as long as you're doing what the best interest meeting agrees. It's entirely up to you (if you have LPA) how you handle the finances, sell the house, rent it out, it's up to you as long as you cover the care home bills and aren't asking the council to pay they're not interested. Only if in the future you did get to the point where you asked for council help might they look at how you've managed her money just so you haven't milked it dry so the council have to pay. The LA's negotiate a lower price with the care homes as they're "bulk buying" so they get a better rate, in a way that means the self funders are subsidising the council and because of this some homes won't deal with the council. In my view this is going to become more common, time will tell.
K

Thanks for the reply, Kevin. My problem is, is that I don't live in England and really don't know how things work in England. My brother lives in England and I'm trying to help him out by feeding him with as much info as poss.
If I understand you correctly the LA will pay for the first six weeks. If this is so, this would give us necessary breathing space to clear the house and have it renovated. That would be a relief because Mum doesn't have any other funds to really speak of.
All this talking of finances sounds really cold but actually it helps me keep my mind off Mum going into a CH. She actually seems quite happy in the mental clinic.
 
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jenniferpa

Registered User
Jun 27, 2006
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If she has no other real savings she would be eligible for a 12 week property disregard. Basically, after an LA assessment, the value of her property will be ignored for 12 weeks although she will be expected to contribute her full pensions minus the weekly personal allowance. Does she currently get attendance allowance? If so that will be stopped if she is LA funded but will restart as soon as she becomes self-funding.
 

Kevinl

Registered User
Aug 24, 2013
6,064
0
Salford
If she has no other real savings she would be eligible for a 12 week property disregard. Basically, after an LA assessment, the value of her property will be ignored for 12 weeksQUOTE]

As usual Jen's right it's 12 weeks property disregard, it's 6 weeks reablement.
Brenda if you're going to rent the property out I'd do a bit of reading around, in order to become a landlord there's a lot of hoops to jump through these days. many do it quite successfully but I decided it wasn't worth the cost of getting the house up to the regulations and sold instead.
K
 

Pete R

Registered User
Jul 26, 2014
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Staffs
My question, therefore, is: should we "keep the LA out of it completely"?
Is your lawyer suggesting this as there may be funding available elsewhere due to your Mum being in a mental clinic?

If you are confident your Mum has enough money to pay for her own care for the duration then you can quite happily keep them out of it. If you are in doubt involve them now.

As your Mum has her own house the LA should offer you the choice of entering into a deferred payment agreement where if they consider there is enough value in the house they will pay the fees and recoup the money on her death.
:)