If you live in a care home and have been paying the care home costs yourself because you had savings and assets over the current capital limit of £50,000, you have been self-funding. The capital limit is set by Welsh Government and is subject to change.
Once your money goes below the capital limit, we call this 'dropped funds'.
When to ask for help from us
Please contact us at least 6 months before your funds reach £50,000 to give us time to get everything in place before your money runs out. If your funds have fallen below the capital limit, we can only provide funding from the date you contacted us.
What happens next?
We will complete a well-being assessment with you to understand your current eligible care and support needs. We will need to do this even if you have previously been assessed by us or by a different local authority.
We will complete a financial assessment with you to calculate how much you will need to pay toward your care costs once you have reached the capital limit. We will also see if there are ways of increasing your income by way of a benefits check.
When we have completed these assessments, we will discuss the options available to you once your funds reach £50,000.
During the financial assessment we will look back at your finances over the past few years, including any property you may have owned before moving into the care home. We will need to see evidence of how property or assets were used. For example, if you sold your property to fund your care home costs, or whether you transferred it to someone else. We will discuss what it means to deprive yourself of assets and how this will affect the contribution you will be expected to make.
Choosing not to complete either of these assessments will mean that we will not be able to provide funding and you will need to continue to pay your own care home costs in full.
Options
Once we have completed your assessment, we will discuss your available options.
If your assessment shows that your eligible care needs are not at a level that requires you to receive care in a care home, it is unlikely that we will be able to support you with funding to remain in a care home. We will explain options such as home adaptations or supported accommodation that may be able to meet your needs.
If your assessment shows that you have care needs that are best met in a care home what happens next will depend on whether you want to stay in the same care home or not.
If your current care home fees are at the same or similar level that we would normally pay towards the level of care you need and you want to stay there, any funding you are eligible for will begin when your funds reach the capital limit.
If your current care home fees are more than we would normally pay for the level of care you need, we will look for a different home which will meet all your eligible care needs which may cost less.
If your current care home fees are more than we would normally pay for the level of care you need but you want to stay where you are, you should ask us about third party top ups. This is where someone, usually a friend or relative, agrees to pay any additional costs to help you stay in your current care home.
If there is nobody to pay the top up fee and your needs can be met elsewhere, it is highly likely you will have to move to other suitable accommodation that would not require a third party top up. We will consider any impact a potential move to a different care home would have on you and discuss this with you.
You can ask for others, such as family, to be involved in all these discussions and decisions. Where appropriate we will ask anyone who has the appropriate legal authority to represent you to also be involved. For example, a relative with the relevant registered Lasting Power of Attorney or a Court appointed deputy.
Funded Nursing Care
If you are in a nursing home, and require nursing care, you may already be receiving Funded Nursing Care (FNC). This means that you have been assessed as needing nursing care and the NHS will pay some of your placement costs. This will not change.
More information
If you have been assessed the contact details will be on your Care and Support Plan.
If you have not been assessed by Adult Services, you can call Independent Living Services on 02920 234 234 to request an assessment.
We encourage you to get independent expert advice when considering all your options. You can find out more about getting legal and financial advice on the Age UK website.
