Are you entitled to a care home rebate?
But her son Don, 73, had another reason to raise a glass at the party last month. A few weeks earlier, Don, who has power of attorney over his mother’s affairs, received a cheque on her behalf, refunding £8,600 in excess fees, after a six-month struggle with the local council.
Confusion over the rules setting out how his mother should be charged for care had led to her paying too much for more than a year.
Don’s experience serves as a warning to other families. Care funding is subject to a strict means test. Anyone with assets of £13,000 to £22,250 (or £21,500 in Scotland) is expected to pay in part. Those assessed as having assets of more than that must pay their own care bills in full.
But complex rules govern what can be counted as an asset. These rules are set out in a 99-page document, the Charging for Residential Accommodation Guide, published each year by the Department of Health and commonly known as Crag. It tells councils when certain investments and property can be counted as part of your wealth.
In Georgina’s case, the assessment by St Helens Council, Merseyside, had wrongly included money that is held in trust in a Standard Life assurance bond as part of her assets. Under Crag, assets held in life bonds with a surrender value should be exempt.
Don, a retired dental technician who lives in Lytham, Lancashire, with his wife Dorothy, 74, says: ‘We’re really happy with the home and I know my mother is being well cared for.
‘But the care was proving expensive. At one point mum was paying £1,400 a month towards care and we had to keep drawing money from her bond.’
The error came to light only after Don mentioned the bond in passing to his financial adviser Adrian Shandley, who runs Premier Wealth Management in Southport. Shandley was concerned that the rules were not being applied correctly and helped Don draft a letter to the council, which investigated after Don’s query in spring.
Don, a keen golfer who plays three times a week, says: ‘It was all cordial. It agreed the bond should not have been included and asked mum’s care home to recalculate her fees.’
Two months ago, Don was sent a refund for £8,600, which has been reinvested into the bond. Now his mother’s contribution is just over £500 a month, paid from her State and Civil Service pensions.
St Helens Council says: ‘The refund was granted as the original assessment was incorrect. The officer involved in this case made a mistake in counting the investment bond as a capital asset.’
The council is not making any further checks on other care home residents’ files. It says: ‘We come across investment bonds infrequently and therefore do not envisage there would be other cases of residents being overcharged.’
Owain Wright, head of Saga’s Care Funding Service, says: ‘Unfortunately, it is not unusual for us to find errors in the way local authorities have applied Crag rules. I suspect it is a lack of training and financial experience in social services departments rather than any deliberate strategy to save councils money, but it can leave elderly people paying care bills they shouldn’t.’