Affinity Financial Awareness -
Care Division
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The Care System
The
prospect of needing/requiring Long Term Care can be a daunting one, both
for the individual and his or her family.
Understanding how to deal with Social Services assessment procedures and
what they mean, knowing what benefits to claim and how, and finding the
right residential or nursing home for your needs can be a nightmare.
It
is therefore essential to ensure that all the legal and financial options
have been examined before making any decisions which will affect your
emotional, physical and financial well being when entering care, as well as
that of your loved ones.
Legislation
under section 47 of the NHS Community Care Act states that any person in
need of care must be assessed by their local Social Services to determine
the type of care best suited to their needs. This may be Domiciliary Care,
where services are provided to individuals in their own homes, or
Residential or Nursing Care in specialist homes.
Having
confirmed that care is required, an additional financial assessment, or
means test, will be carried out by Social Services to determine the
individual’s ability to pay the ongoing cost of that care. During this
assessment individuals will be expected to disclose full details of their
assets. This will include all property currently or previously owned, to
determine whether they or Social Services should pay for their care.
Broadly
speaking, Local Government meets a proportion of the cost of care for you
if you have assets of less than £23,250 in England and N. Ireland, £22,000
in Wales & £22,750 in Scotland. Your
income is also taken into account.
If
you have been prudent and managed to save for your later years, or own your
home, it is likely that you will be liable for the majority of your long
term care costs.
It
is important to understand that Local Authorities have the right of
investigation to confirm that your home or assets have not been gifted to
avoid liability for your care costs (known as Deprivation of Assets). If it
is believed that this has taken place they have far reaching powers to
recover the value of any assets disposed of in this way, including the
right to demand their return (if within 6 months of their disposal) or
treat them as notional capital.
