Your local NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) is responsible for commissioning continuing healthcare. The decision about whether you qualify is based on your overall healthcare needs rather than a specific health condition.
Posts tagged “Care fees”
If you or your loved ones have complex long-term healthcare needs free NHS care is avaiable.
Many people are paying for their nursing home care from their savings or by selling their home. This is despite provision for the NHS to pay for their care.
If you can’t look after yourself at home any longer, your local authority or the NHS should provide your care. If you don’t need nursing care your local authority will carry out an assessment to decide how much you should contribute. Your care will only be fully funded if your assets fall below £23,250. If you need nursing care, the NHS should pay.
Did you know that your local council can claw back money it provides for your care fees?
It can do this if it believes you gave away assets to avoid paying the full cost of your care.
In March the House of Lords voted against changes to the way we pay for our care that could mean poorer people have much less to leave to their families.
The Health and Care Bill was passed in the House of Commons on 22 November. It was then reviewed in detail by the House of Lords but several stages must still be completed before it receives Royal Assent, which is expected to be in April 2022.
In 2014 the Care Act introduced a ‘care cap’ of £72,000 on the total you would be liable to pay for your care costs. It came in to effect in April 2020.
However, most people will have to spend much more before the cap is reached; often over £140,000.
During the coronavirus pandemic we have seen some upsetting examples of how elderly people have felt lost and abandoned when their families are unable to visit them in their care home.
This has been an exceptional time. In most cases your loved ones will be happy and well looked after in their care home, but it isn’t surprising that many families wanted to bring their relatives home during the outbreak.
Family members, most frequently parents, worry about how to provide for a relative who is, or who could become, vulnerable.
Who is vulnerable?
Of course, we could all become vulnerable at some point in our lives due to accident, illness, or changes in our circumstances.
However, more generally someone could be described as vulnerable if they:
aren’t educationally or emotionally mature for their age
don’t understand how to manage their finances
depend on ‘means tested’ benefits for their day to day needs because they are unable to work, for example.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) says that nine out of 10 UK pensioners have not planned for future social care costs.
According to a new report produced by the ABI, millions might have to sell their homes or use their savings to cover the costs of their care, which could mean very little remains to leave to their families.