Please do engage with social care services early. I explain how you do it and what to expect. Take a tea break and curl up with this for 10 mins…
Warning – this post is long, but it’s important (and it’s shorter than the ‘official’ bumpf). I’ll explain how it works in Bucks so double-check for your county as every Local Authority (LA) is different.
Local authority ‘older adult social care’
You may be wary of ‘calling social services’, in case of ‘the wrong’ outcome, I was. Please think again. True, there has been a lot of media exposure about what needs to change. However, from experience, I find the support helpful once you have found it, applied for it and it’s been (eventually) delivered. You’ll be aware that social care services are very stretched so they must prioritise based on need.
Having said that, my advice is to make yourself known earlier rather than later. Don’t wait for an emergency, like a fall, to get on your LA’s radar. By that time you’ll likely be frazzled and overstretched.
Be prepared to have to share the same information over and over (and over) again as services are not yet joined up. It’s still frustrating how many (re) assessments are needed and how often the buck is passed between departments and agencies. The admin can be more draining than the care. If you can, write letters and complete forms on your computer so you can copy and paste if needed. Persevere, there is help at the end.
Your LA, i.e. the entity that collects your council tax (see your council tax bill for your LA), has a duty of care to support people with care needs and their carers. If you pay council tax to a district council that is affiliated to a county council, then it’s the county council that is accountable for care provision. For example, Buckinghamshire Council collects our council tax and supports Marj with local authority care.
In the past, eligibility for adult social care ‘packages’ have been different across different LAs. Since the 2014 Care Act, the criteria for eligibility should be the same across counties e.g. Oxon and Bucks (but it isn’t always).
Adults over 18 qualify for support from Adult Social Care if they have needs that arise from or are related to a mental or physical impairment. It doesn’t matter how the impairment came to be. If an adult is unable to achieve at least two ‘specified outcomes’ (e.g. prepare food or wash and dress) that are deemed to have a significant impact on the adult’s well-being (e.g. spending time with family, staying connected to their community, health impact) they are usually eligible.
For the older adult that needs support
First, the ‘care needs assessment’
The adult who needs support needs a ‘care needs assessment’. Everyone is entitled to this assessment and it doesn’t involve ‘means testing’ of any income at this stage. An assessor evaluates i) what the adult can do on their own, ii) what help they need, then iii) the help they already have. If you are the unpaid carer, sit in on the appointment as you may need to take the role of advocate. It’s not unusual for an older adult to say they are managing fine when actually they aren’t. Also, please be really clear about how much you can and can’t help. Your own wellbeing and your other important activities e.g. a full or part-time job, childcare etc. are very important too. Don’t try and be superwo/man. If the adult needing support meets the eligibility criteria but can’t afford to pay for care themselves privately, then the financial assessment is next.
A ‘financial assessment’ is next if care ‘in home’ is to be funded by the LA
All social care is means-tested so the adult who needs care will need to divulge their regular income (pensions, benefits or earnings) and capital (cash savings, investments, land and property, including overseas property and business assets). Depending on personal finances, the LA will decide whether to contribute fully or in part to care (using a sliding scale) or not at all. Here are the current financial limits for the older adult’s contribution:
- If you have capital/savings over £23,250, you pay the full cost of care and are called a ‘self-funder’ or ‘self-payor’.
- If you have capital/savings between £14,250 and £23,250 you are expected to contribute on a sliding scale eg pay £1 per week for care for every £250 you have above £14,250.
- If you have capital/savings less than £14,250, your contribution is assessed on income (eg pensions and benefits) only, so your capital/savings aren’t taken into account.
- As your capital/savings reduce as a result of funding or contributing to care, your contribution to care also decreases.
- Anyone with a very high pension is very likely to have to pay a higher contribution to care.
- For care support carried out in your home, your house isn’t taken into account, just your income and savings.
Residential or Nursing Homecare
A financial assessment and means testing is applied here too, as you will likely have heard due to increasing media coverage.
- If you have capital/savings over £23,250, you’re normally expected to pay the full cost of care (and are called a ‘self-funder’ again). However, if you self-fund care, you’ll still be eligible for attendance allowance.
- If you’re the sole occupier of your home, the house counts towards capital*. The home may only be disregarded as an asset if it’s also occupied by a partner or a former partner who is a single parent or a relative aged 60yrs+ or a disabled younger relative or a dependent child under 18yrs.
- Income (including benefits and pensions) is also assessed.
- However, some income is disregarded (e.g. mobility allowance).
- If the LA contributes to your care, your Attendance Allowance may be affected (you’re expected to declare that you are receiving a contribution to your care to the DWP).
*The 2014 Care Act led to the introduction of the ‘deferred payment scheme’ which aims to help people stay in their own home as long as possible (rather than having to sell their house prematurely to pay for care fees). In a deferred payment scheme the LA uses the future proceeds of the occupied house’s sale (at any point up to or after death) to offset or cover care costs. This is a type of loan agreement, not necessarily open to all and interest and admin charges apply. Terms probably vary from LA to LA. LAs want to keep people in their own home as long as possible as it is cheaper for them than moving someone into residential care, but please do your research before agreeing to a deferred payment scheme. They may not be the best option for everyone and it’s worth getting some independent financial advice from a trusted source. Try Which? or the Citizen’s Advice Bureau for other options.
Funding residential care is a complex topic so it’s wise to seek further advice from your Adult Social Care team and an independent support group. (e.g. Age UK, Alzheimer’s UK, Carers UK).
The ‘Personal Budget’
If an older adult is eligible for financial support towards their care, they will be given a ‘Personal Budget’. There are two options to managing it:
- Your LA, e.g. Bucks County Council manages the Personal Budget on your behalf and, for example, uses the domiciliary carers they have contracted with, or
- You receive the Personal Budget as a direct payment and use it to employ a carer or assistant, pay a care agency or pay people in your family to provide care**. This way the person who comes into your home to perform the care is selected by you. The direct payment can be also be managed through a nominated family member or POhWER if necessary.
**Intriguingly and potentially frustrating for many I’m sure, you cannot pay the family members you live with to look after you. I wonder why. If you could pay family members you live with to care for you, that might encourage more multigenerational households. The benefits would include freeing up under-utilised housing, relying less on residential homes (a lower cost for the public purse), reducing social isolation and potentially reducing NHS costs due to the positive impact on wellbeing (according to research which shows a correlation between isolation, mental and physical health).
What other LA supported care is available?
For Bucks residents, Bucks Support for Carers is the gateway to the following help:
- care in your own home (from an LA contracted service or they may even be able to find you private domiciliary care services through a ‘care broker’ service, for £250 last I heard)
- daycare centres or other daytime opportunities and activities that offer a little respite
- telecare and other assistive technology
- respite care
- community Occupational Therapist (OT) assessment and loan of mobility and living aids for the home. Marj is a big customer, see this post.
The LA carer’s assessment
Like the care needs assessment, everyone is eligible for a carers assessment. If there’s no care or social worker already coming in to help your elder, do look at this. A ‘carers assessment’ is when the LA evaluates the impact of caring on the carers life. I recommend getting help with filling in any self-assessment forms. There are eligibility criteria, but it’s NOT means-tested (no one looks at your finances or benefits). However, help isn’t likely to be financial, though a ‘one off’ carers direct payment, eg towards a break, is sometimes forthcoming.
If you need some respite (a break from your caring role for a few hours, overnight or longer), your LA is also the gateway to this support. Respite has been hard to find historically but there are signs this may change in the near future.
A ‘sitting service’ as part of a LA adult social care ‘care package’ may be possible (though not available for ‘self-funders’). Unfortunately I’ve heard that this sitting service is no longer available for Bucks residents, but it might be available in your LA.
Here’s more information on Carer’s Allowance which is a completely different thing (I know, it IS confusing).
How to contact your LA
If you live in Bucks, contact Bucks Older Adult Social Care through the ‘Community Response and Re-ablement team’ (CR&R) on 01296 383204 or on their care and support page. This team (with a confusingly different name) should be able to point you in the right direction. Set aside some time as it might take a few calls, you may go around in circles a bit, but DON’T GIVE UP.
Here’s more from Bucks on their carer’s assessment process. The carer’s assessment will be used to prioritise your case so you may like to get some help with this from a carers support group. In any case, keep a copy of any self-assessments you submit, as you are likely to be asked the same questions over again during subsequent phone calls and any follow-up meetings (very tedious, they aim to prevent unnecessary public expenditure).
There will be similar support from other county LA’s too, but it’s worth looking them up or asking your local carer support groups to point you in the right direction, as care provision is often organised and managed differently county to county.
Other Support
There’s a lot of other support out there if you can set aside time to look for it. Try charity, support or volunteer organisations like Carers UK, Age UK, Alzheimer’s Society or Achieve Together (Hearing Loss). They sometimes have contracts with the LA for helping carers. For example, Carers Bucks have an emergency fund for cases of extreme stress or family crisis, which they can deploy if a carer breaks a leg and is struggling to prepare food for themselves and their loved one.
Smaller local social clubs, charities and groups can also be great support, do you know of any nearby?
In conclusion
It’s worth noting that currently (and maddeningly), an LA’s health care team and social care team are unable to talk to each other easily. So, if you live in Bucks for example, social care is provided by Bucks County Council and health-related care is always accessed through the GP (whichever county your elder’s GP is in).
I outline the potential additional (and free) help available here, from local health services.
If your elder has the means and would rather not rely on adult social care, there are an increasing number of private enterprises that can help. I also cover finding home care support for elders. Don’t rule out the very real support and help you gain from joining a carers group (local meetings or on social media).
Finally, while this post attempts to accurately summarise the routes to accessing public-funded social care, it’s no substitute for speaking to the experts at your LA. They will have the final say.
Good luck and let me know how it goes.
