I have a 75yr old friend now a permanent resident in a home,he gets �127 pw oap out of that the council take �118 towards the full charge of his care ,he has �3000.00 savings,and owns his own terraced house,the council are making a monthly charge against the house of �1000,00 per month,i have told him to sell the property he would at least gain some cash reward,how much is he allowed to have as savings before the council get there hands on it ?, i suppose untill he gets down to the limit he can have, the council will take the full �1472.00 per month.also would he be allowed to prepay for his funeral out of the proceeds of the property which at the most would fetch �75000.00, before the balance of the sale was paid into a bank account
My understanding is that capital of more than �22250 means they will have to pay for the accomodation themselves they have to be left with a personal expenses allowance of �22.15 per week they are not allowed to deprive themselves of income to avoid the charges ie giving it away I am not sure whether the authorities would count prepaying for their funeral as depriving themselves of income or not a bit harsh if they do.
Hope this is of some help but seek further advise.
Thank you for the replies,obviously solicitors would be involved and all checked by the legal profesion,it will be nice just to give the chap a little insight of the rules,once again thanks.
The Local Authority where your friend lives will have a booklet explaining charges and how they are worked out, and what the saving levels are. Your friend is entitled to keep some money from his pensions for his personal allowance, usually spent on toiletries, newspapers, sweets etc but totally up to the person to decide.
If your friend or you want to check out charges etc Age Concern or CAB would be best to contact