Financial Assessment for Residential Care Home Fees
We carry out a Financial Assessments to find out what contribution you must pay towards the cost of moving into a care home.
We will look at your total income, capital and certain expenditure and apply a calculation to determine what you will be expected to pay and what contract types your services come under.
Contract Types
There are two types of contracts for permanent care:
- Free Personal Care/Free Personal Care & Nursing Agreement
- Council Contract
Free Personal Care and Free Personal and Nursing Care Agreement also known as Private Payer
Usually chosen by people who have high income and/or capital above the maximum upper threshold of £35,500 and do not foresee having to seek financial assistance from us in the short term.
No financial assessment is required. You must contract directly with the home to agree a weekly charge for your care. In some cases, you may be expected to fund your placement for up to 3 years.
You will be entitled Payments of Free Personal Care / Nursing Care (see section below). This will be paid by us directly to your care home. You will then pay the care home the charge you have agreed with them, less the Free Personal Care or Free Personal and Nursing Care amounts they will receive directly from us.
Council Contract
This contract is available to all clients subject to the agreement of the Care Home.
In all cases a Financial Assessment must be completed. If you do not wish to provide financial information you can opt to pay the Private Payer fee.
We will invoice you for your assessed contribution towards the cost of your care for an initial period, then collection of the assessed contribution will be transferred to the care home.
Sometimes the care home charge will be higher than the Scottish Borders contracted rate. Any agreement to fund this additional charge (top up) must be made between the home and a third party i.e. a family member or a charity etc.
This top up cannot be paid by the person in the care home as we have already calculated what they can afford to pay against the contracted rate.
Should the third party be unable to continue to pay this top up, the person being cared for may have to move to another room or another home, as we will not fund this.
Free Personal Care and Nursing Care Payments
Since the introduction of ‘Free Personal Care’ on 1 July 2002, the charge for living in a care home is calculated in two parts:
- personal care costs
- accommodation costs
You may be eligible for financial assistance for Personal Care up to the value of £254.60 per week if you have been assessed as requiring residential care. In addition, you may be eligible for a further £114.55 per week if you have been assessed as requiring nursing care.
If you claim Free Personal Care, you will lose entitlement to Attendance Allowance, DLA (Care Component), PIP (Daily Living Component) and ADP (Daily Living) after 4 weeks from the date you first enter care or hospital, whichever is earliest. Any entitlement to the Mobility component of these benefits will not be affected.