Paying for my mother's care

I have no idea woldsweather but this is definitely something you should be looking into.

I’ve just tried to understand it as it all sounds very complicated. This is the future plan but still gives some explanations

www.sjp.co.uk/individuals/news/what-the-new-government-cap-on-care-fees-will-mean-for-you

I thought this was proposed for the future but the law never put on to statute. I may be wrong, but that’s what I think.

It won’t concern me I shall be off to Valhalla before that happens..🤓

Yes, the proposal was delayed the article says but it still gives an idea of what the cap is all about.

There is a cap on the cost of care. But not on living costs (paid to care home for rent, heating, food etc).

Do you mean you have paid for your mothers care to date from her own estate - that’s not clear from your post?

A care cap of £86,000 was mean to come into force in October 2023 but has been delayed until October 2025.

Be aware though that it wasn’t going to cover all costs - only personal care. Daily living costs such as accommodation and meals etc were excluded.

As far as I am aware, individual care homes were not going to be asked to accurately identify how overall costs were allocated. A general amount was going to be defined as the cost of care e..g say £2,000 was defined as the monthly cost of personal care. That’s the sum that would be used to calculate when the care cap had been reached.

As far as I am aware, the cap would start to run from the time the scheme came into force. In other words, care costs already paid would not count. So if you were deemed to be paying £2,000 per month for personal care, you would reach the cap 43 months after the start of the scheme.

You would be liable for all other costs based on means testing.

The consultation document is here:

www.gov.uk/government/consultations/operational-guidance-to-implement-a-lifetime-cap-on-care-costs/operational-guidance-to-implement-a-lifetime-cap-on-care-costs

P.S. I say, as far as I aware as I did look at this briefly early last year on behalf of someone else to see how it would work. I hadn’t realised that it has already been postponed. Having been postponed, the person needing care was unlikely to live long enough for their personal care costs to reach the cap.

Thanks you TinSoldier. I didn’t realise it had been delayed. It’s incredibly complicated!

It is. This from Care UK might make it a little easier to understand with a couple of examples. It says:

Capital limits for care funding are changing to raise the threshold as to when residents must pay for their care.

Savings and assets below £20,000: residents will be state funded, with no money taken from assets or savings. However, contributions from income may be required to put towards care costs.

Savings and assets between £20,000 and £100,000: potential contributions from state funding, which will be means-tested. Residents will have an ‘independent personal budget,’ which would be reviewed annually and the spend on care tracked. Individuals will contribute up to a limit of 20% of their assets per year towards care costs.

Assets of £100,000 and above: care will be self-funded until assets drop below £100,000 or the £86,000 care cap is reached.

It’s important to understand that any other care-related costs – such as accommodation, food, entertainment, utility bills and consumables, do not count towards the £86,000 cap so residents or their families will continue to cover these costs.

Personal contributions made towards care by the individual will be tracked from October 2025. Any contributions made before that time will not be counted.

www.careuk.com/where-do-i-start/what-affects-cost/what-the-care-home-fees-cap-means-for-you

You should not be paying for your mother's care.

Hopefully the OP will come back and explain?
Perhaps there’s PoA in place, so she’d taking charge of her Mum’s estate to pay the bills, rather than paying them herself, but the post is a bit misleading.