Call our team of experts at Compass Continuing healthcare today to see if your relative is entitled to free care home costs: 0121 227 8940
Care home costs are incredibly high in England and Wales and would be beyond the reach of all but the richest in society were it not for the fact that the value of an individual’s home is taken into consideration when considering whether someone is liable to pay for their care home costs.
The average figure for nursing home fees is quoted as being in excess of £1,600 a week, or £83,000 a year. Such figures are almost beyond comprehension and can result in an individual’s entire life savings being swallowed up to meet their care home costs in a matter of months. Additionally family homes that people have lived in for decades are having to be sold to fund care costs. Increasingly assets accumulated over a lifetime are being swallowed up in a matter of months and people are passing away penniless, leaving nothing to pass as inheritance to their children, the entirety of their assets having been spent meeting care home costs.
When faced with such a stark reality people often turn to social services for advice and assistance. Unfortunately we have experienced many instances of the incorrect advice being provided to people by social services, the NHS and the Local Authority. At Compass Continuing Healthcare we have encountered people having been informed they have no option but to pay care home costs on a private basis, when in fact their relative ought to have been eligible for NHS funding for care home fees, known as continuing healthcare funding, to meet the cost of their care in full.
In the absence of continuing healthcare funding to meet care home costs individuals are expected to pay in full for the cost of care where their assets exceed £23,250. Once their assets fall below £23,250 they are expected to part contribute towards the care home costs from their assets until they fall to £14,000. Even once the individual’s assets fall below £14,000 they have to continue to contribute towards the care home costs from any income that they receive. The bulk of any monthly income, from say a private pension, would be diverted to pay towards the cost of care provided by the Local Authority.
Continuing healthcare funding is the free NHS funding that pays care home costs in full where the individual’s need for care is primarily a health need.
Often the NHS deny this funding to people who ought to be eligible. As such it is crucial to ensure you receive the correct advice from an expert who is able to contest an incorrect eligibility decision on your behalf without delay. Do not let your relative pay for care home costs they ought to be receiving for free from the NHS via continuing healthcare funding. Contact us today to assist with the challenge.
If you have a relative paying privately for care home costs then contact an expert member of the Compass Continuing Healthcare team today on 0121 227 8940, or complete our free assessment now to all us to consider the details of your relatives circumstances. We are experts at securing continuing healthcare funding to meet any care home costs in full, regardless of what assets the individual has. Remember means testing is irrelevant where continuing healthcare funding applies.
Author: Tim Davies LLB
