Social services financial assessment - for my nan

Hiya,

Not entirely sure if you deal with this here - but I figured that I'd ask...

I'll try to make a fairly complex situation brief

- My nan is in a care home.
- My nan was, for some time receiving help from Social Services WRT her care home fees, on the condition that her house was for sale.
- My nan's house was sold last year and she was informed that provided that her capital was over £23,250, she would be responsible for full payment of her care home fees.
- My nan's bank was already overdrawn when her house was sold and she had several other debts to her daughter (my mum), which she paid as soon as she received the money - and the house didn't sell for that much in the end anyway.
- So, most of the money from the house sale is already gone and her bank balance has dropped below £23,250.
- I contacted the Social Services today (being the one who usually sorts all this out for her) to notify them of this.
- The woman on the phone sounded really suspicious and asked me, basically 'what on earth has your nan been doing with her money?'
- I explained the above and was told that I'd need to put everything in writing, with evidence and that my nan would need another financial assessment.

Anyhow, the money my nan owed to my mum was entirely for care home fees that my mum had paid out herself, before social services were involved. I'm really annoyed about this - but I allowed myself to listen to various other family members and assorted idiots who claimed to speak from knowledge who told me that if Social Services were involved in funding my nan's care, then they would take her house away and sell it for peanuts - and at the time, we were still hopeful that her health would recover to the extent that she could return home. It got into a situation where my mum was thinking 'if we pay just one more month, she might be well enough to get home...' this went on for over a year (getting my mum into debt with loans and credit cards and damn near bankrupting herself) before I got involved and started questioning/organizing things.

So, when the house was sold my nan, off her own back offered to pay my mum back everything that she'd spent on care home fees.

- Now, I had forseen questions from the Social Services like this, so I suggested to my mum that she worked out *exactly* how much she'd paid out and then accept only *exactly* that amount from my nan. Which she did.

- After speaking to the Social Services today, I'm more than a little concerned that they're going to say something along the lines of "well, your nan deliberately gave her money away to her daughter in order to qualify for help from us - so tough luck and screw you" - which to them, it may well appear to be what she's done.

I can prove all of the above - we have receipts from the care home going back to the very beginning (suggested to my mum that she also ask for a full breakdown from the home) and I could look through my nan's bank statements and tell them exactly what any outgoing lump sums were for.

I just wondered if anyone here had ever been involved with this sort of thing before and if anyone had any tips/inside knowledge for how best to progress. Am I worrying unnecessarily here?

Cheers, Phil.

Hi, not sure if I can help much, this is my limited experience;

you Nan is allowed some savings, probably around £16,000, which should be disregarded.

You probably should not have sold the house, just signed it over to social services (sorry, I know that's irrelevant now).

The social services would then pay fees up until the time the worth of the house has been used up.

The problem comes when the money runs out. If your nan has been put in a more 'expensive' nursing home, she would probably be moved to a 'cheaper' one, unless family found the money for the 'top up'.

I think the first two weeks in a nursing home are free, so you need to make sure social services don't charge your nan for that.

I would arrange a meeting with the CAB and take all receipts with you, and your nan's financial papers.

Wishing you loads of luck,
Rachel

Hi again, there are quite a few websites to look at. You could start with this one;

www.carehomes.net/nursing-home-fees.php

I think you just need to prove that the money your nan gave to your mum was indeed a repayment for her nursing home fees and not a 'gift'.

Best wishes,
Rachel

Try reading some of the links on the Ageuk site, they are usually quite helpful if you contact them also saga along with the good old C.A.B

www.ageuk.org.uk/home-and-care/care-home...nt-residential-care/

Thanks very much for all your replies.

Yes, I'm concerned that the Social Services will assume that my nan has attempted 'Deprivation of Assets' (according to the link Fedup posted).

I can however prove (well I hope so - to the extent required) that any money my nan gave to my mum was in repayment for care home fees paid on her behalf. It definitely just wasn't a case of "here - take a cheque for <x amount of money> and put it in your bank/pay off your debts with it, rather than let the care home have it".

I've requested 2 years worth of bank statements (which is what they require). I should be able to account for almost everything large that my nan has paid out.