Call our team of experts at Compass Continuing healthcare today to see if your relative is entitled to free care: 0800 008 7777.
Do you have a relative paying for care homes fees? If so you should consider whether they should be liable to pay anything for care homes fees as there is funding available via the NHS to meet the cost of their care in full. This funding is known as continuing health care funding, or CHC funding, and pays the care homes fees in full where the person’s need for care is primarily a health need.
If continuing healthcare funding is not available people are expected to pay for their care homes fees in full until their assets, including the value of any property they own, goes below £23,250.
Even when the total of their assets goes below £23,250 they have to part contribute towards their care homes fees until their assets reach £14,000. Even once their assets are £14,000 they will still have to pay towards their care costs from any income they receive such as a pension. As such it is clear that care homes fees are incredibly expensive and can consume an individual’s entire assets in a matter of months, often resulting in the family home having to be sold to add to the funding pot.
For this reason it is crucial to ensure that the individual ought not to be receiving assistance from the state towards their care homes fees. There are estimated to be around 100,000 people in the UK paying for care who should not be because their primary need for care is a health need and they are therefore entitled to continuing health care funding to meet the cost of their care fees in full.
Due to the high cost of providing continuing health care to individuals the NHS are often guilty of incorrectly denying individuals funding they ought to be entitled to receive. Often we receive feedback from clients that they have been told that continuing health care is only available to people who require palliative care and who have a short life expectancy. This is simply not correct. Life expectancy plays no part in continuing health care eligibility, and the bar is not that high to satisfy when securing funding.
It is essential that you have an expert available to assist you with the continuing health care funding application when attempting to secure fee care homes fees as they will be able to advise you whether the correct procedure has been followed, whether the criteria has been correctly applied to the particular circumstances of the individual, and assist you in gathering and interpreting the independent healthcare records in order to build your case for an entitlement to continuing health care funding. If you have a relative paying for care home fees do not delay, contact us today. A member of the Compass Continuing Healthcare team will be happy to discuss your particular circumstances in a FREE, no obligation initial discussion on 0800 008 7777. Alternatively you may wish to complete our FREE, CONFIDENTIAL online assessment which will allow us to consider your circumstances and contact you with advice on how best to proceed.
Author: Tim Davies LLB
