Care home fees - Do you have to pay?

Published 07/02/2012

Please note: This article was published prior to July 2022, and some information may be outdated.

Care home fees – Do you have to pay for long-term care?

The subject of care fees is never far from the headlines, and it can cause great confusion and distress for families.

Who has to pay for care? And do you really have to sell your home in the process?

The rules are really quite simple: The NHS pays for healthcare and the local authority (Social Services/local council) pays for what’s called ‘social’ care, e.g. help getting dressed and washed, etc.

However, it’s the subjective interpretation of these rules by various health and social care authorities that causes problems. And you could of course argue that the reason someone needs social care is because they have health needs – and it’s their health needs that prevent them looking after themselves!

There’s a lot of conflicting information – and misinformation – flying around. So, if you have an elderly relative needing full-time care, read this vital information about paying for care.

Tagged Categories: Care fees, Care homes and hospitals, CHC essentials, CHC funding, NHS Continuing Healthcare, Understanding CHC

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6 Comments

Jamie Bray September 6, 2016 at 11:51 am

Thank you again Angela. I have to say it is my hunch too as from 2011 to the present day they haven't attempted to take court action.
To make this somewhat official I have sent the collections dept of the local authority a copy of our questions and answers session, I have mentioned your website where I obtained the answers (hope this is ok! )
I have also asked for a follow up inquiry with the Local Government Ombudsman so all being well I hope to put an end to this soon!
I would just like to say on behalf of myself and the other poor people who have written here with similar and much worse problems, your information is invaluable and would like to thank you very much

Angela Sherman September 6, 2016 at 12:58 pm

Thank you for your very kind feedback, Jamie.

Jamie Bray September 6, 2016 at 10:51 am

Thanks for that Angela I have forwarded this question and answer session to them and asked for them to provide evidence if they followed those procedures, they certainly didn't do anything with myself. And my Father's condition was such he would not have been able to go through it with them.
I am still not sure with the threat of court proceedings where I stand however.
I was made executor of his estate following his death but with work and the finalization of details I didn't complete this until 2014.
Does this alter any of the above facts on who is legally responsible for the debt?

Angela Sherman September 6, 2016 at 11:25 am

My hunch is that the threats from the local authority may be empty ones - because if they did take you to court they may, as a result, be exposed as trying to impose illegal care fees. I don't know that for sure, of course, but you may be able to 'head them off' knowing what you know now.

Jamie Bray September 5, 2016 at 9:56 am

Hi

I have read this site with some interest.
My story comes from a slightly different perspective in that my Father was admitted into a care home in May 2011 following a spell in hospital from March of the same year.
No assessment financial or health care was discussed with me at this stage and I was his closest living relative monitoring the situation.
In September 2011 he passed away in the care home, around 3 months later a bill came for £1034 approx. I had no details of his finances but knew he was a home owner, I was never asked about this by the hospital.
They didn't know if my Father had money or savings or what as I asked by staff in the care home in conversation if he owned his own home etc..
Also the final analysis from the hospital in May 2011 he was fit enough to be discharged and housed in a care home.
However further down the line a member of the Care Home staff volunteered he was put on the Liverpool Care Pathway for the terminally ill. So these issues may be not satisfied about the whole issue.
To this day I haven't paid as given the circumstances and the secrecy of the hospital to his condition I have refused.
On several occasions between 2011 and 2016 I have been threatened with court action to settle the bill, although it has never come to actual court hearings.
Can anyone tell me what my position is legally?

Angela Sherman September 6, 2016 at 10:03 am

Jamie - your father should have been assessed for NHS Continuing Healthcare funding before he was told to pay anything, and if the assessment process had shown that he was eligible, he wouldn't have had to pay anything for his care. This is because there is a legal divide between local authority (means tested) care and NHS (free) care. If a local authority takes responsibility for care (by means testing and charging the person needing care) and yet the care required is beyond their legal limit (i.e. it falls on the NHS side of that divide), the local authority will have acted illegally, and the NHS will have failed to provide care that it must provide in law. Even though your father was in care before the new Care Act came in, the same principles applied then as now.