Paying for Care when you have savings over the threshold.

Joanie18

My partner was discharged from hospital and because we both have savings over the threshold he is having to pay for the Carers he currently has coming to the house until he is mobile again. This could be for a few more months.

At present we are paying out of the savings account in his name and he has a few accounts in his name. We also have a joint bank account. I have a couple of savings accounts in my name. We are in a civil partnership but have difference surnames.

Does anyone know if Hampshire CC can come after my savings if we use his savings until we get down to the threshold? I spoke to someone in their financial team a few weeks after his discharge and she made it quite clear if there was any suspicion of movement of money, deprevation of assets they were within their rights to investigate me for fraud.

Has anyone found themselves in a similar situation?

OverlyAnxious

Hi,

This seems like 2 different questions. Firstly, was the care funding assessment made on just his accounts and the joint account, or did they include your personal accounts as well because of your relationship?

As far as I understand, they should only be looking at accounts he has direct access to. Though this may be decided by each council rather than being a national rule. I don't know whether there would be a difference between marriage and civil partnership for this purpose, I would expect it to be done either on all couple relationships or none at all (similar to the way Universal Credit savings are calculated).

Secondly, it does read slightly dodgy (for want of a better word) and I think the council advisor wanted to cover themselves. If his accounts suddenly emptied, by moving money or spending on something other than care, then they could look at where that been moved to…if it's moved into your accounts then they can make a request to check your personal accounts if fraud is suspected. They can't just randomly access accounts. From what you've written, I don't believe you were intending to move or hide the money, just keep your personal money separate, which I believe is perfectly acceptable both morally and legally.

Joanie18

Hi and thanks for your reply. I definitely do not intend to move or hide my savings accounts. You are right, I want to keep my personal money seperate. I've had some friends and even a couple of the Carers make comments about how I should have moved my money in the past which I've found rather upsetting because I am a religious person who would not even contemplate doing something I feel is immoral.

About a week after his discharge I had a call from Finance Team member asking me questions about his savings and asking if we had joint accounts. They never questioned if I had accounts in my name. When the team member assertained that he had savings over 40k and joint accounts (although with a fraction of that amount in them) the team member said the Care would be chargeable. At this point I was mentally exhausted as there were a few days in hospital I did not know if he would live and actually come home. I'm afraid I had a meltdown on the phone.

Anyway, fast forward a couple of months and me on anti-depressants I then started thinking about the intial phone call and about my savings.

We have both accepted that we will pay for his Care and we are grateful he made it home, especially after witnessing how on it's knees the NHS is.

I appreciate your response on my questions. Thank You.