Fairer charging for home care
This information tells you about North Lincolnshire Council Adult Social Services home care charging policy. This policy is called fairer charging for non-residential services. It was introduced in April 2004 and is used to work out how much you will pay for your non-residential services, which have been provided or commissioned by adult social services.
North Lincolnshire Council will use this policy to charge for the following services:
- Home care
- Housing-related support services
- Direct payments
Your home care charge will be based on the number of hours of care you receive, your savings and weekly income. This is quite complicated as you will see from the explanation below. If you need help with any of this information, please contact us during office hours on 01724 298071.
These are three main components of the fairer charging for home care policy:
- An assessed charge is based on the individual's income and savings.
- People assessed under the fairer charging scheme must be offered a benefit check.
- The council must take into consideration any additional costs you have to meet due to your disability (as long as the relevant disability benefits are in pay).
People can also choose to pay the full cost of their care if they do not want to give us details of their income and savings.
Will you have to pay for home care?
Standard charge (for up to the first eight weeks)
You will start to receive home care following a care needs assessment; your care manager will continue to assess your needs over the next six to eight weeks. During this time your home care may vary, in order to meet your changing care needs. To ensure that your home care charge does not change too often we apply a standard charge for up to the first eight weeks fo your home care service. The standard charge is £34.10 per week. This charge is not based on your weekly income or savings or whether you choose to tell us your financial details, or not.
This charge will not apply if you have been receiving home care and then have a break in your service, for example going into hospital.
The standard charge does not apply to housing-related support services. Housing-related support (supporting people services) will be charged based on the cost of your service.
Assessed Charge (after standard charge)
Following your standard charge period, we will complete an individual assessment based on your income and savings. This is called your 'assessed charge' and will be your contribution towards the cost of your care. This contribution may be anything from nil, to the full cost of the service being provided (up to a maximum of £250.00 per week.) Your care manager will discuss this with you, when your service starts.
If you do not want to tell us about your income and savings.
If you do not want to tell us about your income and savings then you don't have to. All you need to do is fill in the 'Agreement to pay the full cost of care' form. If you do this we will charge you based on the number of hours of home care service your receive at an hourly rate of £12.54 (up to a maximum of £250 per week.) For example, if you choose to pay the full cost and you receive three hours of home care per week the full cost of your service will be (3 x £12.54 = £37.62).
If you decide to pay the full cost of service we will not have the necessary information to undertake a benefit check, or to consider any disability related expenditure that you may have.
Disability Related Expenditure (DRE) disregards.
When we work out your assessed charge we take into consideration any additional costs that you have which are due to your disability. We call these Disability Related Expenditure (DRE) disregards.
You can claim a DRE:
- If you receive an attendance allowance or disability living allowance and
- You are paying for additional services or specialist equipment that are not provided by either adult social services or the health service and
- You need the service or equipment that you purchase.
DRE's are divided into four parts:
- Looking after your home: you can claim this type of DRE if you need help to maintain your home and have to pay extra costs for this service., such as extra cost of fuel due to your disability.
- Looking after yourself: you can claim this type of DRE if you need help to look after yourself and have to pay extra costs for personal needs such as laundry due to incontinence.
- Transport and travel needs: you can claim this type of DRE if you have to pay extra for your transport needs and do not receive a mobility allowance.
- Social needs: you can claim this DRE if you need another person's help to access services such as shops, cinema and social activities.
To claim a DRE you need to tell us about the service or equipment you purchase and you must provide receipts or evidence of proof of purchase.
How we will work out your charge.
In order to work out your assessed weekly charge, we will look at your income and savings. We will be able to ignore or disregard some of these when calculating your charge.
Income
We will ignore in full or part of the following types of income:
- Mobility component (DLA)
- Earnings
- £10 of your war pension
- Any benefits paid to your children
- Any benefits paid solely to your partner
- Housing and council tax benefit
We will take all other income into consideration; this will include your attendance allowance at the lower rate or disability living allowance care component at the middle rate.
Savings
We will ignore the first £14,250 of your savings. We will also ignore any savings held as a long-term investment or in a high interest account. Where you have savings over £14,250, we will assume a weekly income of £4 for every £1,000 over £14,250. We will ignore any savings held by your partner. Where you have a joint savings with a partner we will only take your half into consideration.
Partner's income
We will ignore all income belonging solely to your partner. Some benefits such as pension credit or income support are paid to one person for both partners. If you are receiving these benefits we will take half of the benefit into consideration. When we work out the financial assessment for one member of a couple we will ensure that the other partner is left with at least half the income support plus 25 per cent.
Protected income
We add up your weekly income and any income from savings. From this, we have to ignore the part of your weekly income equal to income support plus 25 per cent. This figure varies depending on your age, marital status and level of disability (see the table below). We will deduct any agreed DREs, and ignore a further 15 per cent of any remaining income. This will result in your weekly charge.
Breaks in service
We will not charge you if you go into hospital.
We will not charge you if you go on holiday as long as you let us know two weeks before you go.
If you go into respite care, we will not charge you for your home care, but you may be charged for your respite. Please ask your care manager for further details.
How to pay for your home care
We collect home care charges by standing order from your bank. You can choose to either pay weekly or monthly.
What do I need to know if I go into a care home for respite care?
When someone goes into residential care it may affect his or her benefits. You must inform the Department of Works and Pensions of any changes to your circumstances. If you have an appointee or representative they should do this for you.
We have listed the numbers you may need to do this below:
Useful telephone numbers
North Lincolnshire Council - Adult social services - Brumby Resource Centre, East Common Lane, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire DN16 1QQ
Tel: 01724 297979
Fax: 01724 298056
Minicom: 01724 291168
New claims for:
- Income Support/Employment Support Allowance/Jobseekers Allowance/Social Fund - 0800 0556688
Existing claims for:
- Income Support / Jobseekers Allowance / Incapacity Benefit / Severe Disablement Allowance / Employment Support Allowance - 0845 6088546
Other useful telephone numbers:
- Pension CreditClaim Line -0800 991234
- Pension Credit Helpline -0845 6060265
- DLA/AA - 08457 123456
- Carers Allowance - 0845 608 4321
- Housing/Council Tax Benefit - 01724 296131
- Working Tax/Child Tax Credit - 0845 300 3900
- Child Benefit - 0845 302 1444
When contacting these offices you will need to give your name, address, date of birth and National Insurance Number.
- Benefit Enquiry line (BEL) General Advice/Information - 0800 882200
We are currently reviewing the way in which people might receive their support because of the implementation of Self Directed Support and personal budgets. People will be advised of the changes affecting them when they occur.