Another query on behalf of my friends family. After a fall in 2013, the grandmother has been in a care home local to one of her daughters. She owns her home which is inhabited by her granddaughter and should be classed as disregarded due to the granddaughter being disabled. Her savings have dropped below the threshold now and they are trying to sort the LA funding the care. The concern is is there any likelihood of them trying to move her to a different care home. She is settled there and happy. The place is I believe around 650 a week and actually very cheap compared to others looked at. Any clues?
The local authority is unlikely to pay that amount per week, so there are two options:
One, not-out-of-the-question option is that her care home may well agree to accept the 'expected to pay' rate, which is the maximum weekly amount that the LA will provide (the home will very likely have many other residents on that rate).
OR the care home and LA will say that the family or another 3rd party tops up the difference each week. The regulations are changing about this (so that that resident can pay the top up themselves), but not until April 2016. Maybe, if there is a large family, they could share the top-up costs for that maximum 12 months before she would be allowed to pay herself, if she could. But it could be as much as £5k a year or more, so it's not a trivial expense.
If neither of these is an option then the LA will supply the family with a list of other care homes that cost only their 'expected to pay' rate. If they can demonstrate that none can offer the care that she needs and currently receives, there may be some room to negotiate, but it is a very long shot.
Good luck
Daze
Another, slightly grisly tip (I am so sorry) is that she pay for her funeral now so that the LA will require her to contribute less of her income/capital towards her care fees.