Paying for care homes
Care can be expensive. Who pays, how much and how?
What now for social care funding and winter fuel payments?
There are two features of the announcement from the incoming Chancellor Rachel Reeves in July 2024 that will particularly affect older people. Winter fuel payments Payments to help with the cost of energy have been made annually in the autumn to those of pension age. This has not been means tested to date, so recipients […]
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What to do when you become an accidental landlord
Sometimes you can find yourself the manager of a rental property without meaning to do so. You might be helping out an older relative who is struggling to manage their own tenants. Or you might have a relative who wants to let their home to fund care home fees and needs someone to organise the […]
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Local authorities and paying for care
A recent report has uncovered what the authors call a “postcode lottery” around how local authorities across England, Scotland and Wales fund care. The report has prompted us to take another look at how care is funded by local authorities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It’s slightly complicated, but here’s what the situation […]
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What does the Autumn 2018 budget mean for older people?
We take a quick look at the Autumn 2018 UK budget to see what is likely to affect older friends and family – and what leading charities and commentators made of it. Didn’t budget statements in the UK used to come round just once a year? Or did we imagine that? Either way, a […]
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Care fees funding and deprivation of assets: the rules
Member of Solicitors for the Elderly and Associate with Clarke Willmott LLP Heledd Wyn shares how to protect your parent from the possible pitfalls of a Local Authority investigation and what to do to ensure their financial actions aren’t deemed to be deprivation of assets. If your parent is thinking about making a gift to […]
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Should you be paying care home top-up fees?
Written by Kathy Lawrence If a care home resident is funded by their local authority, then families are allowed to contribute top-up fees to give them more choice in where they live. There are growing claims that local authorities are demanding top-up fees to cover part of the basic care for which the authority is […]
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How to fund care home fees through investment
Andrew Dixson-Smith, Business Development Director of care fees specialists Eldercare Group, shares his advice for managing your parents’ finances to pay for their care bills. The process of finding suitable care for a parent can be an extremely daunting prospect. Quite often, this process has to be undertaken at a time of crisis for the […]
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We chose to sell medals for Branse’s benefit
Written by Rebecca Lenton Image provided by Dix Noonan Webb This week’s exclusive story is told by Sarah. Sarah Guthrie, the daughter of Wing Commander Branse Burbridge, talks about her family’s choice to sell her father’s WW2 medals in a bid to cover the cost of his on-going care. She explains that they were not […]
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The Care Act 2014 – what does it mean for you?
The first phase of the Care Act has now come into force with more to follow next spring. Holly Chantler, Senior Associate Solicitor at Morrisons Solicitors LLP, provides a run-down of how we can expect local authorities to help in the care of older friends and family. What is the Care Act 2014? The Care […]
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