Financial support for care in a care home

This section tells you about paying for care in a care home: see page 51 for paying for care at home or in the community. You may qualify for financial help from Gloucestershire County Council if the council has confirmed that:

• Following a care needs assessment, you have ongoing needs for care and support.

• You have savings, investments and assets of less than £23,250, which is established by completing a financial assessment by a visiting officer from the council’s Financial Assessment and Benefits (FAB) team – see page 38.

As a general guide if you have:

• More than £23,250, you will have to pay the full cost of your care and support yourself.

• Less than £23,250, you are likely to have to pay something towards the full cost and the council will pay the balance.

Visit www.yourcircle.org.uk/Information/ paycareandsupport to get an estimate of what you might have to pay towards the cost of care and support arranged by the council.

If you own a property and you need permanent care in a care home, the value of your home is included in your financial assessment. In some circumstances, the value of your property may be disregarded, for example:

• When your partner (or certain other relatives) continues to live in your home when you move into care.

• During your first 12 weeks in permanent care to give you time to make decisions about what you are going to do with your property.

You may be eligible for financial support from the council in the form of a deferred payment agreement. See page 56.

Making arrangements with a care home

If you are eligible for financial help from the council, it will only pay what is necessary for the level of care that you need. You may be able to choose more expensive accommodation if someone else can ‘top up’ the difference between what the council will pay and the actual cost – see page ‘Top ups’ below.

Once you have chosen where you want to live, the council will make the arrangements with the care

12-week property disregard

You may be eligible for a ‘12-week property disregard’ to help pay your care home costs during your first 12 weeks in the care home if:

• You own your own home and have capital or savings (not including the value of your home) of less than £23,250.

• No ongoing property disregards apply.

During this time, the council does not count the value of your home in your financial assessment, so you pay the amount calculated in your financial assessment and the council pays the rest.

This period gives you time to make decisions about your property, for example whether you are going to sell it or enter into a deferred payment agreement. When the 12-week period ends, council funding stops,

Top ups

The council will only pay what is necessary for the level of care that you need. You may be able to live somewhere more expensive if someone (usually a family member or another third party) can ‘top up’ the difference between what the council will pay and the actual cost.

You can only pay a top up with your own money:

• During a 12-week property disregard period (see above).

• When the council has agreed a top up as part of a deferred payment agreement.

• When your care is arranged as after-care under section 117 of the Mental Health Act.

Top ups are a financial commitment. Be aware that:

• Anyone who wishes to pay a top up will have to home for you. Then every month: and you enter into a contract with the care home to pay for the full cost of your care unless you have made arrangements to have a deferred payment agreement. sign an agreement with the council to pay the top up for as long as you need care.

• You pay your assessed contribution to the care home (determined by your financial assessment).

• The council will pay its agreed share of the cost to the care home.

• Anyone paying a top up will pay the top up as agreed in the top up agreement with the council.

Note: The 12-week property disregard period only applies during your first 12 weeks in permanent care. It does not apply if you have been in permanent care for longer than 12 weeks before becoming eligible for a deferred payment agreement. See page 56.

For more information,visit www.yourcircle.org.uk , enter ‘property disregard’ in the search box, then select the information tab.

In addition, The Care Advice Line can provide free information and advice about financing your care. Visit www.thecareadviceline.org/gloucestershire or call 01452 222200.

• Care home fees (and the top up) may increase during this time.

• There are consequences if the top up is discontinued. The council will continue to meet your needs, but it may have to consider moving you (subject to a risk and needs assessment) to a care home that does not require a top up.

The council is required by law to monitor top up arrangements when it is contributing towards the cost of your care. It must agree all additional payments, so please tell the council if a care home approaches you or your family for an additional payment. For more information, visit www.yourcircle.org.uk/Information/topup