Care Home Fees & Asset Protection

The cost of long-term care can have a significant effect on savings, property and inheritance plans. We explain how care is funded, how the local authority assesses your means, and what lawful planning is available, so that you or a relative can make informed decisions.

Who Pays for Care Home Fees?

Care home fees can be expensive, but not everyone pays them in full. Your contribution depends on:

• Your financial means: the local authority carries out a means-tested financial assessment.
• Property ownership: if you own a home, its value may be taken into account.
• Savings and income: if your capital exceeds the upper limit, you will normally be expected to fund your own care.
• NHS or local authority support: some care is funded through NHS Continuing Healthcare or by the local authority.

We help families understand how these rules apply to their circumstances.

How Much Do Care Home Fees Cost?

Fees vary considerably with location, the type of home and the level of care required, and nursing care costs more than residential care. The care home or your local authority can confirm current rates. Because fees can reduce savings quickly, it is sensible to take advice early.

Protecting Your Home & Savings

Many people worry about having to sell their home to pay for care. The law allows some planning, but it is closely regulated. The options we advise on include:

• Property protection trusts in wills: leaving your share of the home on trust, so that it passes to your chosen beneficiaries rather than outright to a surviving spouse or partner.
• Severing a joint tenancy: changing how a jointly owned home is held, so that each owner can leave their share by will.
• Gifts and lifetime planning: a local authority can treat assets as still yours if it concludes they were given away to avoid care fees (deliberate deprivation of assets), so any gift needs careful advice.
• Wills and trusts: structuring your estate so that it passes as you intend.

We will explain what is permissible in your circumstances, and what is not.

What is the Means Test?

In England, the local authority carries out a financial assessment to decide how much you should contribute towards your care. The current capital limits are:

• Capital over £23,250: you will normally be expected to pay the full cost of your care.
• Capital between £14,250 and £23,250: the local authority contributes, and you pay an assumed income from your capital in addition to a contribution from your income.
• Capital below £14,250: your capital is disregarded, although you will still contribute from your income.

Different limits apply in Wales. We can review a financial assessment and help you challenge one that appears to be wrong.

Do You Have to Sell Your Home to Pay for Care?

Not always. For example:

• A spouse or partner still living there: the home is disregarded in the financial assessment while a spouse or partner, or certain other relatives, continue to live in it.
• The 12-week property disregard: the value of your home is ignored for the first 12 weeks of permanent care.
• Deferred payment agreements: the local authority may agree to defer care fees, secured against your home, so that it need not be sold during your lifetime.

We can advise on which of these may apply in your circumstances.

What is NHS Continuing Healthcare & Are You Eligible?

Some people qualify for NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC), in which case the NHS meets the full cost of their care, including care home fees. Eligibility is not means-tested. It depends on whether the person has a primary health need, assessed by the NHS under a national framework that looks at the nature, intensity, complexity and unpredictability of their needs. A diagnosis alone does not decide eligibility.

If a relative has been assessed as ineligible and you believe the decision is wrong, we can advise on asking for it to be reviewed.

How Much Does Care Home Fee Planning Cost?

Our fees depend on your circumstances. We will confirm the cost in writing before any work begins. Please call us on 01482 228808 to discuss what you need.

Why Choose Brewer Wallace?

• Accredited: we are accredited under the Law Society's Wills and Inheritance Quality Scheme.
• Clear pricing: we confirm our fees in writing before any work begins.
• Funding applications: help with local authority and NHS funding.
• Challenging assessments: support where a financial assessment or funding decision appears to be wrong.

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