Important Legal Information
Please be aware that if you are making an application for financial assistance to help reduce your care home costs, the law requires you to declare your true financial circumstances. Failure to do so could render you or your representative liable to legal proceedings.
Deprivation of assets
If someone intentionally reduces their assets - such as money, property or income by giving them away or selling below the market value - so these won't be included in the financial assessment for care home fees, this is known as 'deprivation of assets'. If we conclude you have deliberately reduced your assets to avoid paying care home fees, we will calculate your fees as if you still owned the assets.
The money or property will be treated as 'notional capital' and it will affect the amount of assistance you can get. The people you have given the asset to might also become liable to pay your care home fees.
Placing a property in Trust
Trusts are legal devices designed to hold assets on behalf of named beneficiaries. With a trust owning the assets, you might have been advised that those assets will no longer be counted in your application for financial assistance. However, the law states that you must not place your property in trust in order to secure more financial assistance.
If you do this, you will not qualify for financial assistance and you will have to pay all your care home fees yourself.
If you have been advised to place your savings or property in trust to protect your investments from being used to pay care home fees, you have been given the wrong advice. The law states that you must not transfer the ownership of assets like a home or savings into a trust to avoid or reduce your care costs.
Financial assistance is means-tested, so, if the council believes you have placed your house (or any of your assets) in trust to avoid paying care fees, we will decide that you have deprived yourself of your own assets to take advantage of state financial assistance and you will not qualify.
The council will use its powers to thoroughly investigate all applications for financial assistance in accordance with the Care and Support Statutory Guidance.
If we need to look into whether you have deliberately deprived yourself of property and money, we will consider two things:
- You must have known at the time you disposed of your property or money that you needed or may need care and support.
- Avoiding paying for care must have been a significant reason for giving away your home or reducing your savings.
It's not just giving away your money that could be seen as a deliberate deprivation of assets. Different methods of reducing your money or property could count too, including:
- giving away a lump sum of money, such as gifting to grandchildren
- transferring the title deeds of your property to someone else
- suddenly spending a lot of money in a way which is unusual for your normal spending
- gambling the money away
- using savings to buy possessions, such as jewellery or a car, which would be excluded from the means test.
Signing a contract without financial assistance
You must sign the contract issued by your care home. The Council will not be involved in this. Even if you have taken out a loan to pay your fees (Deferred Payment Agreement), your contract after the 12 week disregard period should you qualify, is with your care home and not with Kirklees Council. Your care home will notify you in writing if they decide to increase their charges.
Consequences of not making or stopping your payments
The Council or your care home may take legal action against you to recover the money you owe. This could result in court proceedings and ultimately eviction. Your credit rating (or your legal representative's) may also be affected.
Using legislation to calculate eligibility for financial assistance
When undertaking financial assessments, the Council must act in accordance with:
- Care Act 2014
- Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014
- Care and Support Statutory Guidance
You can find further information at Legislation - GOV.UK
Concerns about your care home
If you have raised your concerns with the care home manager and you are not happy with their response, then please contact Community Health and Social Care hub on 0300 304 5555 (Monday to Friday 8.45am to 5pm) to discuss your options.