Care Fees Annuity Frequently Asked Questions

If a spouse is still living in the family home, with the other spouse requiring immediate care, would we need to sell our house to pay for care?

No. Provided the spouse remains permanently living in the house it will be disregarded by the local authority when making their financial assessment. If the care required is for 24 hour nursing care, the NHS should pay all the costs of care.

One spouse who is about to go into residential care has a negligible amount of savings in their own bank account, but the other spouse has significant savings and investments. Would the local authority include the assets of the spouse who does not require care when calculating the financial assessment?

Only the assets of the person requiring care are taken into account. Hence in this case, the local authority would ignore the assets held solely in the name of the person not requiring care. Had the savings accounts or investments been held in joint names then half of the assets would have been assessed on the individual requiring care.

If a spouse is widowed and lives alone and prior to going into residential care gifts their house to their children, will this be exempt from the local authority's financial assessment?

No. If the local authority believe that an estate has been deliberately reduced they will view these types of transaction as contrived deprivation and will include them in their means test when assessing care funding.

If a home is jointly owned and we put it into trust, would this prevent it being taken into account when the local authority means test should either one of us need residential care?

No- as in the scenario above. You will be asked whether you have ever owned a home and if the answer is yes the circumstances under which the home was removed from your Estate will be reviewed and it is likely that this will be viewed as deliberate deprivation and the house will be taken into account.

Someone who did not purchase a Care Fees annuity has been in a home for several years and has seen the value of their savings fall to below £23,500. The local authority have refused to pay her full fees and asked her beneficiaries to top them up. She cannot afford her current care home for much longer and the local authority have threatened to move her to a cheaper home. Can they do this?

Unless the care home can be persuaded to reduce their fees, relatives may be asked by the local authority to top the fees up. However, forcing her to move can be challenged under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Someone with £20,000 in savings with no other assets needs immediate residential care. What assistance will the local authority give her with regard to funding the costs of on-going care?

Since her savings are below the upper means test threshold of £23,500 the local authority will fund her fees. Her only contribution will be from any pensions income, but she will be allowed to keep £21.15 each week for personal expenses. Since her savings are above £13,500, she would have to pay £1 for every £250 she has above £13,500, which works out at (£20,000 - £13,500 = £6,500) / 250 = £26 per week.

One spouse has been in a care home whilst the other spouse continued to live at home. Eventually both require residential care. At what point would the house have to be sold to pay for care costs?

When the second spouse goes into a home. However, the local authority has to disregard the value of the house for the first 12 weeks when the second spouse went into a home. Beyond 12 weeks the local authority will expect to be repaid upon the disposal of the house.

What is the process for applying for a Care Fees annuity?

The first step is to complete our on-line Care Fees Annuity Quote Request form. This allows us to produce indicative quotes from the product providers which will give you an approximate idea of how much capital will be required to generate the required income to pay for care fees. These quotes are always subject to medical underwriting so the next step is to give authority to allow the Life Offices to access the medical records of the person requiring care. This can be done by completing our Care Fees Annuity Medical Request form. which will allow a firm offer to be made by the product providers. This part of the process can take a while to complete since GP surgeries can cause delays in sending medical records. Once the firm offer is made and if a client decided to proceed, they would need to complete an application form to the product provider of their choice. We would guide you through this process, with no pressure to proceed if you change your mind.

How much do Care Fees Annuities cost?

The best way to find this out is to ask us for an indicative quote. For a very approximate guide to likely costs, refer to our Care Fees Annuity example premiums.