wifes pension building up in her account

[dogdayafternoon]

My wife is in a care home following a fall in late February, after two hospitals the the NHS placed her in the first home, now in the third and final home and I have been told she will not be able to come home.
I was told the NHS were paying for all care until things settled down then there would be a financial assessment.
My wife has a basic pension of about £81.00 a week that is paid into her own account, that has grown to over £2000, the pension is still going in. She is also on our joint bank account but never used it. She also has quite a lot of gold jewellry that I bought her over the years, this is all in our house, no private savings or shares.
What will probably happen when they finally make an assessment, I presume they will take the money from the account and the pension will go direct to the local authority who will then be funding her care, anything else that will be taken into consideration?

 

[Louise7]

@dogdayafternoon The financial assessment will take into account your wife's income and savings (but not the jewellery). As her savings are only £2,000 she will be entitled to help from the local authority to pay the care home fees. Don't worry about the pension building up in your wife's account. The local authority will know that this is because the NHS have been paying for her care, and you will need the money to pay for her care once the financial assessment is completed.

During the financial assessment the local authority will calculate how much each week your wife is required to contribute towards her care home fees. This will be the total of her income/pensions minus £24.50 weekly which she will be allowed to keep to pay for incidentals such as clothes, toiletries etc - the rest is paid to the local authority. In my mum's case they didn't take the money directly from her bank account, they sent monthly invoices. As I have power of attorney I then paid the invoices on mum's behalf, using money from her account. Do you have financial power of attorney for your wife?

This fact sheet is helpful as it explains all about the financial assessment process and paying for a care home in England (the situation is different in Scotland/Wales):

Paying for dementia care in England

Dementia care isn't free, and you may need to pay for some of the care you or someone you know needs. We help you understand the different ways to pay for care, and the amount you might be expected to pay.

www.alzheimers.org.uk