NHS Care Funding – Know your Rights!

Must I pay for my own Residential or In-Home Care if I own Assets?

The value of your assets is irrelevant for HEALTH care and is only relevant for SOCIAL care. Legally, all UK citizens ordinarily resident in the UK are entitled to free HEALTH care under the National Health Service (NHS), whether in hospital, at home or in a residential care facility.

Unfortunately, for many reasons which include the application process being flawed, an overly complicated administrative system that is confusing to most of its employees, and the NHS funding for Care being motivated by financial rather than medical objectives, it very often incorrectly denies funding.

If a care need can be identified as SOCIALLY related (such as lack of mobility or isolation) rather than HEALTH related (paralysis, malnutrition, etc.), then the NHS will determine that care should NOT be funded by them and be provided through a local authority instead. This means that if a person has assets valued greater than £23,250, INCLUDING RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY when it is not occupied by anyone else, then the patient must pay for their own SOCIAL care using their assets in excess of this amount. (Please note that a patient would also be expected to CONTRIBUTE TO their SOCIAL care from funds they have valued at greater than £14,250 but less than £23,250). It is common for a local authority to continue to request excessive payment of care fees from a person after their funds have been depleted to below these thresholds, so that person, or their representatives, must be continually vigilant.

We provide full support and guidance throughout this process for people and their relatives.  Costs which may be incurred during this process are solely those of NECESSARY EXPENSES incurred by us for providing the appropriate support and guidance.  This may include occasional travel expenses for attending assessments and/or funding appeal meetings, as well as essential administration costs which are relatively minor.  Such expenses have reduced since the global pandemic of 2020/21 as many meetings are now held online.

Please note that Care Funding continues to be assessable after it has been granted, and if a person’s need(s) recede(s) sufficiently, then such funding may cease to be available.

It is also extremely important for a patient to arrange Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) whilst they maintain their mental capacity.  This makes the process of obtaining eligible funding or appealing a refusal for funding far easier should that person lose their mental capacity at any time thereafter.  Finally, if NHS funding for healthcare is declined for genuine reasons, a patient may still be entitled to Funding for Nursing Care, which is a state contribution towards their privately funded care fees.

Nobody’s quality of care will suffer in any way by simply claiming that to which they are entitled.

Please refer to our care-funding and power-of-attorney pages for further details.