You might be able to get help with the costs of living in a care home. Your local authority will assess whether you have to make a contribution towards the fees and this is dependent on your income and savings. For example, if you have more than £21,000 in savings (this may include the value of your home - see below) then you will usually have to pay the care home fees in full.
If you own your own home and you move into a residential care home permanently, the local authority may be able to assist in the first 12 weeks while you establish funds for your stay in the nursing home. After that, they will usually include the value of your home when working out whether you have to pay care home fees.
In certain situations, the local authority will not include the value of your home when working out whether you have to pay fees. For example if your partner, a relative over the age of 60, a disabled relative or a relative who is responsible for a child under the age of 16 is living in your home; the authorities will ignore the value of your home when making the decision.
The local authority can also choose to ignore the value of your home if they think it is reasonable to do so, for example, if you have another relative living at home who does not fit into any of the above categories.
For more information, you could visit Age Concern or Help the Aged websites.
We recommend that you speak to specialist brokers in order to maximise any assets you may have.