Article by Phil
Is a member of your family receiving care, either in a nursing home or at home? If they are, have you checked if you are entitled to funding to pay for their care?
Too many families are paying for their loved one’s care fees without checking first if they are entitled to funding from the NHS. Everyone going into, or already in the care system should be assessed for their eligibility for NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding (NHS CHF), unfortunately fae too many families are missing out.
NHS CHF is available to pay for the care of anyone who meets the eligibility criteria, regardless of their financial position. It is not means tested.
Continuing Healthcare Funding is paid by the NHS to private nursing homes to cover the costs of care for those people whose care needs should be provided by the NHS in hospital, but which are being provided in a nursing home instead to help reduce the pressure on hospital beds. This is care which is required to deal with medical conditions as opposed to care associated with supporting day to day activities. This is an important distinction and is why eligibility for funding is assessed by the NHS.
With the average cost of care somewhere between £500 and £700 per week, eligibility for NHS CHF has a massive financial impact. Unfortunately, the availability of funding is not widely publicised and there are also often disputes between families and the NHS over assessments for funding. This is why expert help is often needed. There are a small number of specialists out there who can help. For example, Care to Be Different is a free website which offers families advice and guidance on the assessment process. Farley Dwek Solicitors also provide a Free Guide to Care Funding and can provide one to one support.
So, if your loved one hasn’t had an assessment yet, you should consider asking for one.
Thinking about how you are going to pay for your own care in the future is also something that you should start to do well ahead of time. With the cost of care increasing all the time it is important that you think about your finances and potentially Inheritance Tax Planning which of course we can help with.
