• Make sure you claim all the welfare benefits to which you are entitled.  Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance are not currently means-tested.
• If your condition changes, ask for your care needs to be reassessed as you may qualify for more support.
• Sign over property and assets or place them in trust so that your estate is worth less than the threshold (currently £23,000) over which you have to fund your own care.
• Consider taking out long-term care insurance.
• Buy an immediate-care annuity, which provides you with a tax-free income to help meet some or all of your care costs – although this must be paid directly to the care provider.
• Always consult an independent financial adviser specializing in long-term care funding (ask if they have taken the CF8 exam) before you take any action on care fees planning.

The Telegraph’s advice is relevant to people whose primary need is for social and personal care.  Anyone with an overriding health need should be assessed for continuing care, which is funded by the NHS.  If you or a relative is paying for care which you feel should be funded by the NHS due to a serious health condition, please contact Cheselden so we can review your case.

Plaid Cymru Assembly Member Leanne Wood has voiced her concern over the effect on the Welsh disabled population of the UK Government choosing to scrap Attendance Allowance (AA). The abolition of AA is proposed in the English Green Paper, published in July 2009, as part of the shake-up of the social care system. And because the Welsh benefits system is under UK control, Wales would be unable to retain AA, currently paid out to 115,000 people, if the benefit is scrapped. Wales has a higher proportion of disabled people than England and receives around 8% of total AA funding, but under the new system, funding would be cut to 6% – a loss of £130 million per year. Ms Wood comments: ‘This would be a significant cut to the incomes of disabled pensioners. Our research shows that the impact (of abolishing AA) in Wales could be even worse, with tens of millions lost to the Welsh economy because of the way Wales is funded by the Government in London.’ Ms Wood’s concerns were seconded in the Welsh Oral Question session on 11 November by MP for Brecon Roger Williams, who then called on the Welsh Office to abandon the entire social care consultation process. Deputy Minister Gwenda Thomas has responded to Ms Wood in writing, stating that her belief that the abolition of AA will be strongly opposed in Wales and urging the importance of ensuring that Wales’ own social care Green Paper gives the opportunity for affected parties to represent their interests to the UK Government.

In October, health secretary Andy Burnham confirmed that AA’s sister benefit, Disability Living Allowance which is paid out to disabled people aged under 65, will definitely not be abolished to help fund the new ‘National Care Service’.

posted by Cheselden Continuing Care at
09:54

In July’s Green Paper on the future of the social care system and its funding, one of the ideas put forward was the abolition of certain disability benefits and the re-routing of the resulting funds into social care provision. The benefits in question are Attendance Allowance (AA) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) which are currently available to anyone with a certain level of disability that affects their mobility, regardless of means. The proposed changes have led to concerns being raised by a number of charities and organisations that campaign for the rights of elderly and disabled people. They argue that by replacing these benefits with means-tested social care support, many people that currently receive AA and DLA will lose a significant proportion of their income because they will not qualify for the new type of support. An official petition has now been set up to appeal to the Government ‘…to recognise the vital support that Attendance Allowance (AA) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) provide to disabled people, and to ensure that these benefits are secured and are not removed as part of any future reform of the social care system in England.’ You can sign the petition by clicking here. It will remain open until 7 December 2009.

posted by Cheselden Continuing Care at
11:28

Further to the publication of the Government Green Paper on the reform of social care, ‘Shaping the future of care together’, the Government reports that the consultation process – otherwise known as the Big Care Debate – is going well. The aim was to spark a nationwide debate on the future of adult social care services and how they are funded. The large amount of publicity that the Green Paper has received in local and national media, as well as health and social care-specific publications and websites, has brought the issues at hand to the attention of the general public, who are taking the opportunity to air their views. Since the Big Care Debate was announced in June, its official website, www.careandsupport.gov.uk, has received over 3,000 responses to the ideas put forward in the Green Paper. A nationwide road show is also underway which is enabling members of the public to access information about the proposed changes, put their opinions across and ask questions. Road show events are running until mid October, with all dates available on the official website.

A key area of the debate so far is the benefits question, with many respondents stating their concern about the proposed abolition of disability-related benefits such as Attendance Allowance (AA). This issue has also drawn strong responses from a number of charities that campaign for the rights of disabled people, such as the RNIB which claims that many sight-impaired people will lose out if AA is replaced with a means-tested social care benefit, for which many are unlikely to qualify. Commenting on the website’s blog, the Government responds to this by stating its commitment to ensuring that disabled people end up receiving the same level of benefits under the new system as they do now. It goes on to say that a new system is needed for older adults to remove the inconsistency, confusion and unfairness that result from the existing, fragmented social care and disability benefit systems for the elderly.

posted by Cheselden Continuing Care at
10:29

Statistics have shown that many older people in Northumberland are not claiming benefits to which they are entitled due to lack of information. Health experts in the region have now started a campaign to make pensioners aware of the Attendance Allowance (AA) benefit, which could make a real difference to their quality of life. Available to the over 65s, AA is a non means-tested benefit which helps older people cope with the increased costs incurred by a disability, such as buying special equipment or paying for care at home. Keith Thompson of Northumberland Care Trust comments: ‘…many people are unaware of its (AA’s) existence, and when people have heard about it they often don’t think they can claim…Pensioner poverty is a real issue which must be tackled urgently, and benefits such as Attendance Allowance can make a huge difference to the living standards of pensioners everywhere, many of whom are struggling with the soaring costs of basics such as food and fuel.’

AA is paid at two rates depending on the recipient’s level of disability: £47 or £70 per week. Entitlement is based solely on disability criteria and no other benefits are affected by claiming it; in fact, a recipient may become eligible for additional benefits as a result of claiming AA. To find out more, read Cheselden’s Factsheet 8 ‘State Benefits’ or visit the Northumbria Chronicle’s website.

posted by Cheselden Continuing Care at
17:33