What Are Your Fees?
Our fees are calculated on an individual basis and depend on the needs of each resident. To establish each resident’s fee, we carry out a comprehensive initial assessment.
Accepted Funding Sources:
We currently accept residents who are funded from the following:
- Social Services
- Insurance
- Self Funding
- Private Funding
Funding Information:
If you are moving into a nursing home or residential care home depending upon your financial circumstances, you may be expected to contribute towards the fees. Social Services will work out what you will have to pay on the basis of a national set of rules.
If you require Continuing Health Care and the NHS is arranging care on your behalf in a nursing home, they will possibly meet the costs. Please note, strict criteria applies and the final decision rests with the NHS.
What you need to do
First of all you need to contact your local Social Services Department or your local GP who will guide you on what you need to do and whom you should contact.Your local Social Services Department will help you identify your needs. They will carry out an ‘assessment of need’, which involves working with you to determine how these needs can be met. Usually this process may involve other professionals and carers, family or friends already involved in supporting you in your day to day living. You will also be allocated a Care Manager from Social Services who will help you throughout the assessment process.
Who will pay?
Following the ‘assessment of need’, Social Services will decide what help they can offer you.
If it is determined that residential or nursing care is best suited to your needs, a financial assessment will be carried out to work out how much (if anything) you can afford to contribute towards the cost of your care.
During the financial assessment you will be asked to provide details about your income, savings and assets, including information relating to any property you own, pensions, savings accounts, shares etc. Prior to a final decisions being made regarding any move to a nursing or residential care home, you will be informed if you have to make a contribution, and if so how much, and what you need to do about it.
How much will I have to pay?
The amount you will need to pay will depend upon your personal financial circumstances. All local authorities have been issued with guidance from The Government on how charges are to be calculated. The financial assessment undertaken by Social Services will calculate your total income and, after taking off your personal allowance, the balance is the amount that you will need to pay.
What happens to my savings?
This will depend on how much savings you have.
£14,000 or less: If you have savings of £14,000 or less, your savings will not be taken into account for financial assessment.
£14,000 – £23,000: If you have savings of between £14,000 and £23,000 this will be taken into account. You will be required to pay £1 per week for every £250 for savings between £14,000 and £23,000.
£23,000 or more: If you have savings of over £23,000 you will have to pay the full cost charged by the home. This is referred to as the ‘maximum charge’ and no matter how much money you have, you will not pay more than this.
What happens when my savings start to fall?
You must give Social Services six months notice before your savings fall to £23,000. At this stage, an assessment will be necessary to check that the home is still appropriate to your needs and your financial assessment will be reviewed to establish how much you can afford to pay when you reach the £23,000 threshold.
What if I own property?
If you are admitted to a nursing or residential care home permanently and have property valued at £23,000 or more, you will pay the full charge.
The local authority will pay for the first 12 weeks until the property is sold. If the property is not sold within the first 12 weeks, you can apply for a loan from the local authorities to pay the care home fees until the property is sold. However, once the property is sold, you will need to repay the full amount.
However, if someone else lives in the property, its value will not be taken into account if the person is:
- Your partner or
- A member of your family who is
- aged 60 or over
- aged under 16 and is a child or whom you have responsibility to care
- incapacitated
Each Council also has discretion to ignore the value of the property where someone continues to live there and does not come under the above categories.
If you need to sell a property but don’t want to, you can request a Deferred Payments Scheme where the Council will meet the costs of your care during your lifetime, however, these costs will have to be repaid when the property is eventually sold. (A legal charge is placed on the property).
What if I am married?
Your charges will be assessed by Social Services entirely on your own income and assets and not those of your partner. However the regulations state that a husband is liable to maintain his wife and vice-versa. Therefore, Social Services will request that the spouse/partner make a contribution. The amount will depend upon your personal financial circumstances and is usually negotiable.
Will my family have to pay anything?
Social Services will only pay a certain amount each week. (Each local authority has a set rate they will pay for the different categories of residential and nursing care).
If you choose a home which charges more than this amount, someone else must pay the extra. This is known as ‘Third party top up’ and must come from a third party, for example family members, charities or friends. It cannot be paid out of your own money as you have already been assessed on that, nor can it be paid out of your personal allowance and neither can it be paid out of any money you have in the bank that has not been included in the assessment (i.e. under £23,000).
Can I choose which home I go into?
In most circumstances, Social Services will arrange for you to go into the home of your choice if:
• The home provides the service, which meets your individual needs
• The cost is no more than what Social Services would normally pay for a similar place and service. (Each local authority has a set rate they will pay for the different categories of residential and nursing care).
• The home has a place available for you
• The home is willing to enter into a contract with the Social Services Department for your Local Authority
You may also choose a home outside your local authority boundary if there is not a home which provides the necessary services within your area or if you wish to live closer to relatives in another area.
What do I do now?
You need to make sure that you find a home that suits you and your needs. SVP Health Care Ltd provides high quality nursing care and support in addition to state of the art facilities. Get in touch with a member of the team on 0191 257 0937.
