Care Fee Top Ups During the Twelve Week Disregard
This blog has been prompted by yet another call from a potential customer who has been misinformed about the rules regarding fee top-ups for people on the local authority 12-week property disregard!
To recap, when someone is assessed by the social services department at their local authority as needing long term care they also have a financial assessment to see whether the authority should be meeting the cost of care. If the person owns a property but has less than £23,250 in savings (it’s a bit more complex than this in reality) the local authority will fund their care as if the property doesn’t exist for 12 weeks. The idea is that they have time to sell the property to put the finance in place to fund the care.
Many people who will be self funding their care will chose a care home that costs more than the local authority will pay. During this period they can use their own assets to top up the local authority contribution to meet the fee required. This is important because it allows people to access the care home of their choice.
What’s the Confusion?
Many people are told they cannot top up their fees by local authority staff. The reason for the confusion is that if their total funds (including any property) were below £23,250 and the local authority funded their care they are not allowed to top up their contribution from their own funds. Any top up has to come from a third party, such as a relative.
As with all matters to do with funding care, the practice is usually more complex than set out above. Please use the above for general guidance only. We would be pleased to advise on specific cases.
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