Applying for financial assistance
If the outcome of your assessment is that you have eligible care needs that require you to live in a care home, you are liable to pay the full cost of your care home fees unless you qualify for some financial assistance.
To work out whether you qualify for financial assistance and to give you an idea of how much you will have to pay, please complete an application for financial assistance at Better off Kirklees - Care Financial Assistance full application
Qualifying for financial assistance
You will be liable to pay the entire cost of your care home fees directly to your chosen care home provider if you:
- Have savings or investments worth £23,250 or over
- Own a property that you or your partner do not live in
- Choose not to disclose your financial information
If you are currently paying all your care costs and your savings and investments have nearly reduced to £23,250, please complete an application for financial assistance. Please do not delay in completing this as any financial assistance you might get will only be backdated to the date of your application.
If you have savings or investments less than £23,250 you are likely to qualify for some financial assistance. Please complete a financial assistance application to work out how much money you can afford to pay for your care home.
Change in financial circumstances
If your circumstances change you should complete another online application for financial assistance. An automatic yearly review of the amount you pay will also be carried out when welfare benefit rates change.
Financial help without a care needs assessment
If you decide to make your own arrangements, without a social work assessment, then we will not be able to help you financially.
Sharing financial details
You don't have to provide any details of your income or savings but if you don't, we cannot assess if you qualify for any financial assistance and you will have to pay the full cost of your care.
Help with managing your finances
You can ask a family member, friend or relative to support you to manage your finances, there are different ways in which that support can be provided for you. The three main formal routes for support are appointeeship, deputyship and power of attorney.
If you feel you do not have the mental capacity to manage your own benefits or find it difficult to do so (for example because you find it hard to fill in forms or manage financial information) then you can ask someone you trust to apply to the DWP to become your appointee. As your appointee they can claim and manage your benefits on your behalf. They would also be able to access information from the DWP in relation to you and your benefits. It is important to note that appointeeship only relates to managing your benefits, and the small amount of savings that may be associated with receiving those benefits.
You can ask someone you trust to be granted a Lasting Power of Attorney for you, An LPA for financial decisions can be used while you still have mental capacity or you can state that you only want it to come into force if you lose capacity. An LPA for financial decisions can cover things such as:
- buying and selling property
- paying the mortgage
- investing money
- paying bills
- arranging repairs to property
Find out more about appointeeships:
If a person does not have the mental capacity to grant a power of attorney, then the Court of Protection can appoint a deputy to make decisions and receive information about a person on their behalf.
There are two types of deputies:
- a financial affairs and property deputy deals with a person’s finances, such as bills, benefits and pension
- a personal welfare deputy deals with decisions concerning and person’s health and personal welfare
Find out more about deputyships:
Supporting information for financial assessments
You will need to provide:
- Recent benefit award letters from the DWP or up-to-date bank statements showing details of these payments
- Letters from works pensions or annuity providers or bank statements showing these payments
- At least the last 12 months' worth of bank or building society statements or pass books
- Details of any shares or national savings products
- Details of any property or land owned or previously owned, including your main or only home
- Details of any other income and investments