‘Mum has very little life savings left due to £4,000 a week care home fees – can she claim Pension Credit?'

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With the savings having now depleted, the GB News reader has been left wondering what support her elderly mother may be entitled to.

The concerned reader asked: “My mum, who will turn 85 in January, lives in a care home. She has been paying privately for this, using her life savings and the proceeds from her own home.

“Her remaining money is now approaching £25,000. She has various co-morbidities, including cancer, and could no longer manage on her own.

“Last year she was told she had too much in savings, from the proceeds of her house, but they have now gone, and she has very little money left.

“Can Mum claim Pension Credit? With the state pension and two small private pensions, my mum's overall income is around £860 per month, whilst her home fees are £4,000 per month.

“Who can I contact for help? And how?”

GB News put the question to Age UK, whose experts replied: “Your mother’s total current income will be compared against the standard minimum guarantee for Pension Credit which is £201.05 for a single person and if she has lower income than this, Pension Credit can be awarded up to this amount.

“However, be aware the local authority will take any Pension Credit into account in their financial assessment and the maximum the mother will be left with is £28.25 a week.

“The local authority would expect her to claim this if she is being financially supported and should be able to provide information and assistance to claim.”

The experts signposted their Pension Credit guide, which explains how to claim it.

They added: “From the social care side, we’d suggest –

• For help from social services, the mother (or daughter) should request a needs assessment. If they have already done this, and are still waiting for a response after three weeks, they should contact social services again and ask for a response as soon as possible. They have the option of raising a complaint with the local authority if they cannot get a response in a satisfactory time.
• Age UK has information about approaching the local authority for help with care home fees, where the person has been self-funding. For example, see section 7.3 of factsheet 29, Finding, choosing and funding a care home for information about this topic.
• The mother or daughter can seek advice from our National Advice Line, for example, if they experience problems with getting a response from social services. There may also be a local Age UK service able to assist them.”

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The experts added that the reader’s mum might be eligible for Attendance Allowance.

While people can’t usually get Attendance Allowance if they live in a care home and their care is paid for by the local authority, they can claim it if they pay for all the care home costs themselves.

The Age UK experts said: “While the enquiry said she couldn’t previously claim any benefits because of her savings, people who are self-funding in a care home (or living at home) can claim Attendance Allowance, which is not means-tested.

“However, if someone receives local authority funding Attendance Allowance is taken into account as income in the financial assessment and will stop 28 days after local authority financial support begins. This is explained in our factsheet.”