Some Other Sources Of Income

Your relative may have monthly or quarterly income from:

• investments
• savings
• stocks and shares
• rented property
• seasonal lettings from holiday homes or caravans, etc
• full-or part-time work
• working from home
• charitable grants.

 

At the time of writing:

• If your relative has savings and investments of over £19,500 they will have to pay the full cost of care. In this case they will not have to divulge any information regarding their income.
• If your relative has savings and investments between £12,000 and £19,499 they may have to contribute something from their savings towards the cost of care.
• If they have less than £12,000 nothing will be taken from their investments or savings.
• Bear in mind that pensions, allowances, residents’ contributions toward their care, etc are subject to change annually or even more frequently. Check them with your care manager or Social Services finance department (see Figure 5).

 

Your Relative’s House

If your relative owns their own home and leaves it to enter into a care home permanently the house will be counted as an asset after the first 12 weeks. If their spouse or one of their relatives continues to live there it may not




be taken into account. However, if they own more than one property the second house will be taken into consideration.

Although this information is accurate for East Sussex it is possible that there may be minor changes in different counties of England.

Wherever your relative lives it would be wise to telephone or write to your local Social Services office and ask for information. They will send you a variety of helpful booklets with useful addresses and telephone numbers of relevant organisations.

Basic Fees

Sometimes the home’s basic fees are listed on the brochure but not always.

You may be given a list of fees (see Figure 6) or they may be discussed when you go to view the home and see the matron. You should ask if there are any items for which you are expected to pay extra.

Generally speaking the basic fee includes:

• care
• the resident’s room
• bed linen
• towels
• meals including elevenses, afternoon tea and night drinks, etcFig. 6.Sample fees list.
• laundering of machine washable personal clothing
• light and heating.

Items Which May Attract Extra Charges In Some Homes

All homes are different and what is included in the fees of one home may be classed as an extra in another, such as:

• double rooms used as a single room
• en suite facilities
• refreshments and meals for visitors
• incontinence aids
• hiring of special equipment
• heavily dependent residents
• extra staff for one-to-one basis in special circumstances
• personal laundry and dry cleaning
• occupational therapy materials
• hairdressing
• outings
• speech therapy
• chiropody
• private consultants’ and doctors’ visits
• private prescriptions
• shopping
• anything else the management considers is not covered by the basic fee.

 

Find out what is included and what is termed an extra.

Paying The Accounts

The matron will probably suggest that the fees are paid by direct debit and will give you the appropriate form if you wish. This will ensure that the money is debited form your relative’s bank account and transferred into the home’s account on the due date.

Providing the home manager is in agreement the fees can be paid by cheque on or before the due date.

It is very unusual for residents or their relatives to pay with cash and in this case the proprietor and the manager must be in agreement in allowing this method of payment as special arrangements would have to be made to receive such substantial amounts of cash.