Social Care

[Mazurka]

I care for my wife who has Altzheimers. I t has become necessary to have help twice a day with washing and changing. The people tell me that this is a short term thing, and after settling what her needs are, they will hand over to an agency.
This may involve having to pay for her care. Had a financial assessment done in early Dec ( still waiting for the reply ), but I know she is well below the £26250 in savings, and has just her pension and Attendance Allowance. I expect the Attendance Allowance will need to be contributed, but have, as yet, no idea of what exactly we will have to pay. I need to know so I can budget for the future. Does anyone have any information on the subject? Not that I don't want to pay, but need to know if I can actually afford it.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Louise7]

Hello @Mazurka from experience, and reading posts on here, it does seem that local authorities can calculate the amount that people need to contribute towards their care at home in different ways. The important thing to remember is that the cost will be calculated using your wife's income only, not yours. There is also what is called a Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) which ensures that the local authority have to leave you with money to pay bills/household expenses etc, they won't take it all. It's been a few years now since my mum was assessed for care at home (she is now in a care home) but from memory she didn't have to contribute too much towards the care costs, but hopefully someone here who has had an assessment recently will be able to provide more up to date information. In the meantime you may find this link to an Age UK factsheet which explains the process in more detail helpful:

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs46_paying_for_care_and_support_at_home_fcs.pdf

 

[Mazurka]

Thanks for that. As I have now asked for a morning as well as an evening visit, I just wanted to plan ahead financially. I will certainly look up the factsheet. As if caring for a loved one is not enough, money is all to the authorities .Unfortunately I live in a city where the council has gone " bankrupt ", and Adult Social Care id one of the targets to save money. Work all your life, pay taxes and GNI, and still they are like Oliver-please can I have some more?. Again thanks, good for others to help each other.