Financial Assessment for Non-Residential Adult Care, Health and Wellbeing Services

Last updated: 11/06/2013 Add to My Bookmarks Subscribe

Contents

• Introduction
• The financial assessment for non-residential services
• More about the financial calculation
• Calculating your charge
• Examples

Introduction

Adult Care, Health and Wellbeing can sometimes help pay for the cost of care provided in your own home, although you may have to make a contribution as well. Trained staff will carry out a financial assessment of your circumstances to work out exactly what your contribution should be; this will be calculated according to guidelines issued by the Department of Health.

The financial assessment for non-residential services

Do you have an upper capital limit? Yes.  If you have capital in your own right (excluding the value of the house you live in or personal possessions) and this exceeds £23,250 you will be expected to pay the maximum charge of £250 per week, or the cost of your service if this is lower.

How is a financial assessment arranged? Firstly a Case Co-ordinator or Social Worker will visit you to carry out an assessment of your care needs. This will identify the amount of care that you require at home to remain independent. An Assessment Officer will then arrange to contact you, or someone acting on your behalf, to carry out a detailed financial assessment.

What financial details will I be asked for? When the Assessment Officer contacts you he/she will outline the information that will be required. All information that you give will be treated as strictly confidential, and all records of the conversation will be kept securely. You will be asked to provide evidence (e.g., pension details and bank statements) giving details of:

• Your National Insurance (NI) number
• Your weekly income (eg: retirement pension, private pension, Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, etc.)
• Your capital (eg: savings in a bank or building society, stocks, shares or premium bonds, etc.)
• Any other property/land that you own or jointly own (please note - the property in which you are normally resident is not taken into account)
• Details of any housing-related expenditure, ie rent, mortgage, council tax 

What will happen during the assessment? When the Assessment Officer contacts you, he/she will ask you to collate all relevant documents relating to your income, capital and housing expenditure.  The Assessment Officer will record your financial details on a Financial Circumstances Form. When the form is complete, you will be asked to sign it and provide copies of the relevant supporting documents, and you will receive your own copy to keep..

If all the relevant information is available at the time of the call, the Assessment Officer may be able to calculate your contribution towards the cost of your care and notify you of this during the call.  However, where the financial situation is more complicated, or if all the necessary information is not available, a follow up call or a visit might be necessary, or you may be contacted later in writing with an explanation of your contribution.

What if I do not wish to provide this detailed financial information?  It is fully appreciated that some people may not wish to divulge details of their financial situation, and there is an option for you not to provide details.  If this option is taken, you will be asked to pay the maximum charge (currently £250 per week) towards the cost of your care, or the full cost of your service if this is lower.

Will the financial assessment always result in a charge?  No, in some cases once all income, savings and housing related expenditure are taken into account this may result in a nil weekly contribution towards your care. 

What will happen next?  The Assessment Officer will ensure that the supplier of your care is informed of your weekly charge.  You will then need to pay this charge direct to the supplier, and they will be able to tell you how this needs to be paid, eg by cash or cheque, monthly invoicing or direct debit arrangements.

What do I do if I am unhappy with the calculation of my contribution? Please refer in the first instance to the Assessment Officer who has dealt with your charge. He/she will arrange to carry out a review of your assessment, which may involve a visit to you to discuss your assessment further. If you are unable to resolve the matter with the Assessment Officer, another Assessment Officer or a Manager of the council will undertake a further review.

How often will my assessment be reviewed?  You can request a review of your financial assessment at any time by contacting the Assessments (Charging) Team. Annual reviews will take place as a matter of course. You will be contacted in advance of a review being carried out.

Are all non-residential social services chargeable?  No. Certain services that we are able to provide do not attract a charge. Your Case Co-ordinator or Social Worker will be able to advise you if the service being provided to you attracts a charge.

During the financial assessment, the Assessment Officer will also be able to provide advice on various benefits that you may be able to claim, if you are not already doing so.  If it is identified that you may be able to claim for additional benefits, the Assessment Officer will be able to help you complete the forms if necessary.

More about the financial calculation

Income

Details of all sources of income are taken into account.  However, earnings from paid employment are totally disregarded as are certain benefits (eg: Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance). Anyone who receives Income Support or Pension Credit Guarantee will automatically be passported to a nil charge.

Capital Resources

All capital (bank, building society accounts, stocks, shares, premium bonds, etc.) that you hold in your own name, or your portion of jointly owned capital will be taken into account.  The first £14,250 of capital is completely disregarded, and a tariff income of £1 for every £250 or part thereof is calculated for capital over £14,250.  The value of any second property will also need to be taken into account, however the property in which you are normally resident is completely disregarded for charging purposes.

Upper capital limit of £23,250 for individuals (or £46,500 for a couple).  Pay maximum of £250 of cost if capital is over this amount.

Allowances

Personal Allowances - we allow everyone a personal allowance based on the amount used for Income Support purposes, plus an additional 25%.  This personal allowance is to meet all of your normal day to day living expenses, eg food, water, fuel, insurances, etc.

We are then able to make other allowances for the money you spend on rent or mortgage, and your Council Tax.

Calculating your Charge

Once all of the above information has been collected, the following calculation is made:-

Income plus Tariff Income from Capital less Allowances including housing related expenditure (*) = the amount of your weekly charge

If your charge results in an amount exceeding £250 per week, you will not be charged more than £250 per week, as this is our current maximum charge.

Below are some examples of how an individual user's contribution may be calculated; please note, however, that these are intended to give guidance only. Each person's finances are different, and sometimes quite complex, which is why Adult Care, Health and Wellbeing have trained Finance Officers to carry out the calculations for you.

Examples

Example 1

Mr Smith is 75 years old and has been assessed by a Case Co-ordinator as requiring a personal budget, costing £100 per week to provide. Mr Smith lives alone in his own property and receives a state pension of £108.60, an occupational pension of £135.00 per week, and Attendance Allowance of £51.85 (low rate). Mr Smith has various bank and building society accounts totalling £19,800.

Mr Smith pays £13.30per week council tax. 

Having had sight of the above financial details and evidence of the expenditure items, the Assessment Officer will carry out the following calculation:

Total Income less Total Allowances = £74.92 per week

This would result in an assessed maximum charge of £74.50 per week. The cost of Mr Smith's care is £100.00 per week and as the assessed amount is the lower amount, £74.50 is what Mr Smith would need to pay to the provider of his care.

Example 2

Miss Thomas is 62 years old and has been assessed by a Case Co-ordinator as requiring a personal budget, costing £30 per week to provide. Mrs Jones lives alone in a rented property and receives combined state pension and Pension Credit Guarantee of £142.70.  At present, she is not in receipt of Disability Living Allowance Care Component, although she is considering putting in a claim for this with help from the Assessment Officer.  Miss Thomas has £1,500 in a bank account.  Miss Thomas does not pay for any rent or council tax as these are fully covered by housing and council tax support. 

Having had confirmation of the above financial details, the Assessment Officer will carry out the following calculation:

Has the Assessment Officer seen evidence that Miss Thomas is in receipt of Pension Credit Guarantee?

Yes.

Therefore Miss Thomas will be passported to a Nil weekly charge = £0.00.

In this example, Miss Thomas will not be asked to pay anything towards the cost of her care at home.  However, if she ceased to receive Pension Credit Guarantee for any reason, her assessment would be reviewed and adjusted accordingly.

In both of the above examples, if the cost of the service being provided is less than the charge that has been calculated, the actual service cost, being lower, will be the weekly charge.