Choosing a Care Home in Stockport: What Families Should Know
Choosing a care home in Stockport: what residential care covers,…
If you are trying to work out how a care home will be paid for, the order of events matters more than anything else. The council assesses what care someone needs first, and only then works out who pays for it. Families who do it the other way round, and try to guess the money before anyone has assessed the need, almost always end up more worried than they need to be.
This guide explains how paying for a care home works around Stockport, Hyde and Gee Cross. What the means test actually counts, when the house is and is not included, what a top-up is, and what happens if savings run down. It is the money side of the decision. If you are still weighing up homes themselves, our guide to choosing a residential care home in Stockport covers that part.
There are two separate things, and they are often confused.
Ask for both, even if you are fairly sure you will be paying privately. The needs assessment is the document that says, in writing, what level of care is required. That is useful when you are comparing homes, it is useful if circumstances change later, and it costs nothing.
One point that catches people out locally: it is the council where the person normally lives that arranges and funds care, not the council where the home happens to be. Someone who lives in Stockport and moves into a home in Hyde is still a Stockport Council responsibility. Ring the council for the person’s current address, not the home’s.
The financial assessment looks at capital, which means savings, investments and in some cases property, and at income such as pensions.
In England there are two capital thresholds. Above the upper limit, currently £23,250, someone is expected to pay their own fees in full. Below the lower limit, currently £14,250, capital is ignored altogether and only income is counted. Between the two, a sliding contribution applies. These figures are reviewed, so confirm the current ones with the council rather than relying on any website, including this one.
Not everything counts. Personal possessions do not. Nor does the value of a home the person part owns if certain people still live there, which brings us to the question everyone asks first.
Not automatically, and not always.
The property is disregarded entirely if a husband, wife or partner still lives there. The same applies if a relative aged 60 or over, a relative who is disabled, or a dependent child under 16 lives there. In those cases the house simply does not enter the calculation.
Where the house would otherwise be counted, there are two things worth knowing.
If the council funds a placement, it funds it at the rate it considers sufficient to meet the assessed need. If a family chooses a home that costs more than that rate, the difference is usually made up by a third party top-up, paid by someone other than the resident.
Two things matter here. First, a top up should be a genuine choice, not something presented as unavoidable. The council has to be able to offer at least one home that meets the assessed need at its own rate. Second, a top up is a long term commitment that rises when fees rise. Before agreeing to one, ask how often fees are reviewed and by roughly how much they have gone up over the last three years. Any home worth choosing will answer that question straight.
Where someone’s needs are primarily health needs rather than social care needs, the NHS may fund the whole placement through NHS Continuing Healthcare. It is assessed separately, starting with a checklist and then a fuller assessment if the checklist is met.
It is worth asking about if the person you are arranging care for has complex, intense or unpredictable health needs, which is exactly the kind of situation where families are told a residential home cannot cope. At Laurel Bank a good deal of our residential care is for people with higher needs than the label usually suggests, and we are used to placements funded in different ways. If you have already been turned down elsewhere, our guide on what to do when other care homes have said no is the more useful read.
Separately, Attendance Allowance is a non means tested benefit for people over State Pension age who need help with personal care. It is not affected by savings, and it is frequently left unclaimed.
This is the worry that sits underneath most of the others, and it has a practical answer.
Tell the council before capital reaches the lower threshold, not after. Ask for a financial reassessment while there is still a buffer, because the council needs time to arrange funding and the paperwork is slower than families expect. Ask the home, too, what happens at that point, and get the answer in writing.
The question to put to any home you are considering is simple: if this person outlives their savings, do they move? A home that has thought about it will tell you how it handles that. A home that has not will change the subject.
It depends on the person’s capital and income. The council carries out a financial assessment after a needs assessment. Above the upper capital threshold the person pays their own fees, below the lower threshold only income is counted, and between the two a sliding contribution applies. Where needs are primarily health needs, the NHS may fund the placement instead.
Not necessarily. The property is disregarded if a spouse or partner still lives there, or a relative aged 60 or over, a disabled relative, or a dependent child. Where it would be counted, the first twelve weeks of a permanent stay are covered by the property disregard, and a deferred payment agreement can let fees be paid from the property’s value later rather than now.
It is the difference between the rate a council will pay and the fee of a more expensive home, paid by someone other than the resident. It should be a genuine choice: the council must be able to offer a home that meets the assessed need at its own rate. Remember that a top up rises when fees rise, so ask about the home’s fee review history before agreeing.
Contact the council for a financial reassessment before capital reaches the lower threshold, because arranging funding takes time. Ask the home in advance what happens at that point and get the answer in writing, so nobody is making decisions in a hurry later.
Yes. A needs assessment is free and available to anyone regardless of savings. It is worth having even if you expect to self fund, because it records in writing what level of care is required, which helps when comparing homes and if circumstances change.
Yes. We accept self funded placements, council funded placements, council funding with a top up, and NHS Continuing Healthcare. If you are not sure which route applies, ring us and we will talk it through with you.
Funding is the part families most often get wrong by guessing. If you tell us the situation, we will tell you plainly what we think is possible and what is not, including when the honest answer is that somewhere else would suit better. Give us a ring on 0161 368 4719, or send us a message.
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