Care Funding Advice ~ "I learned more about care in the last hour than I have in the past seven months!"
When you need care funding advice what’s it like to have a visit from one of our advisers? Here Kim Hine who provides care funding advice for the Care Fees Advice Agency in Buckinghamshire explains...
I recently met with a lovely couple that wanted to see me about her mother’s situation. Mum had given her permission for them to seek advice on her behalf.
They have access to the internet, had input from Social Services and local surgery but felt they were still floundering with finding out relevant information. As it is normally a one off occasion that families need to help elderly relatives with their care situation, they find it difficult to know where to start.
We had a general chat about mother’s position and they gave me a lot of background information and clarified the family situation. It became clear that Mum’s mental health had deteriorated after a hip replacement early in the year and she had become isolated after friends had found it difficult to deal with her mental health issues. She had been in respite care for a couple of weeks in the summer whilst her daughter and son in law had a holiday and she is coming around to the idea of a permanent move to a care home. Her daughter has had to give up her part-time job as she needs to see Mum every day, providing her with food (although she does have Meals on Wheels), laundry and personal hygiene assistance. Mum has savings in excess of £23,250 having previously sold her home and is now renting, so she would need to fund her own care when required.
I discussed the Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) with them – most solicitors would be able to deal with this, but in particular members of Solicitors for the Elderly have a great deal of experience in this field. This would be appropriate whilst Mum still had capacity to appoint attorneys and I suggested that this is discussed with Mum urgently and set in place, if at all possible. If Mum does not have sufficient capacity then a Deputy could be appointed by the Court of Protection, but this could mean it may not be who Mum would wish to appoint.
Attendance Allowance had not been applied for and so I provided the contact number for the Benefits Line and recommended that they get the paperwork to apply for the lower rate of £49.30 per week, as Mum required some level of care in the daytime. This is a non-means tested benefit.
We discussed a domiciliary care plan at home, which they did not think would be appropriate. So we talked about finding the right care home, the main criteria being relatively local so that family could visit easily. However, on visiting a number of homes, it was clear how different they are. It really depends what Mum wants; whether that is small or large; lots of activity or quiet; the type of room; old property or modern and of course the cost. It was also necessary to think about the future as Mum may need EMI (elderly mentally infirm) care or possibly nursing care at some point, so if she could stay in the same home, the family thought that this would be preferable. I suggested that Mum considers another few weeks of respite, so that she could get the feel for the selected home and if it was not appropriate they could reconsider another home.
Once the decision has been made for Mum to go into care, I will give the care funding advice options for paying for her care – as we will be in a known position for income and fees. In the meantime I talked the family through the options, in principle – giving advantages and disadvantages of each. They could then broach this with Mum and hopefully answer her questions, although I would be more than happy to meet with her. Their main concern was for Mum to have the care she needed for her lifetime, they were not really worried about their inheritance.
At the end of our meeting they told me that they had learned more in the last hour than they had in the last seven months! They also said that it had been helpful just to unload onto someone who was not directly involved. Of course this is what I deal with day in and day out, but I was delighted to be able to assist with their current needs and to be able to work with them in the future.
financial planning advice
Added 15-Nov-2011 10:04
Financial planning for retirement is something practiced in present only by the wise. But many people fall short in this regard, until the middle-age blues start taking toll. To secure old age proper financial planning for retirement is very significant decision in present.