Planning for the Costs of Care | The Good Care Group

Overview

Paying for your care can feel daunting. We’re here to put your mind at rest.

Cost is a significant factor when you’re considering any form of care. So knowing your options – from healthcare funding to benefits entitlement – will help you make a better decision and lift a weight from your shoulders. Our friendly advisors are always here to help.

When it comes to paying for live-in care,
most of us have four main options…

1. Healthcare funding

If you have complex, ongoing healthcare needs, you may be eligible for Continuing Healthcare (CHC), a package of care arranged and funded entirely by the NHS.

Your eligibility is determined by an assessment, which looks closely at your needs before recommending the level of care you should receive. CHC is non means-tested but the qualification criteria are strict. If you are eligible, you may be given the option of a Personal Health Budget.

Personal healthcare budgets

Personal health budgets were introduced to give anyone eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare more freedom over how they receive it. Your personal health budget is paid as a tax-free sum – how much will depend on your needs – that you can use to set up a care package with the provider of your choice.

Who is eligible?

NHS Continued Healthcare is awarded when your primary need for care relates to your health. The assessment will look in detail at how complex, intense or unpredictable your needs might be.

As a first step, ask your GP for an initial assessment. If the outcome suggests you may be eligible, you’ll be referred for a full assessment by a team of healthcare professionals – a Clinical Commissioning Group – who will make a final recommendation.

If you are entitled to NHS Continuing Healthcare, you’ll be asked how and where you wish your care to be received and which organisation(s) you would like to provide it.

CHC & other entitlements

Being deemed eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare whilst living at home does not mean that other benefits to which you may be entitled will stop. For example, if you were already claiming disability living allowance or attendance allowance, you would continue to do so as normal.

The Good Care Group looks after many people with personal health budgets, working closely with NHS teams to ensure the best possible outcomes. Please call one of our team on 0800 1234567 for more information.

Care to be different

We work with care to be different, an organisation that helps eligible families secure NHS Continuing Healthcare funding. You can find out more about them and request their help here.

Ineligible for CHC?

Even if you are deemed ineligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare, there are other care funding options open to you.

Please read the social care funding, benefits entitlements and privately funded care sections below to find out more.

2. Social care funding

Every one of us is entitled to an assessment of our care needs from our local authority.

Unlike healthcare funding, it will be means tested. So if you are eligible for social care, a financial assessment will establish if you need to fund all or part of the cost.

3. Benefits entitlements

When you’re exploring the options for funding live-in care, it’s easy to overlook a state benefit to which you might be entitled.

So as a first step, it’s worth making sure you’re claiming everything you can. We’ve listed the main benefits here, but you may be able to claim others, depending on your circumstances. Not all of them are means tested and could provide a valuable contribution to your care costs

4. Privately funded care

If you are deemed ineligible for social or healthcare funding, don’t worry.

We advise many thousands of customers who find themselves in that situation. We work in partnership with Symponia – respected specialists in financial care planning – who can help you structure your finances in a way that removes worry and doubt from the future. Here are just a couple of the options you might consider…

Talk to us about your care needs

To talk about your care needs, contact one of our friendly advisors. Calls from landlines are free.

0203 728 7577

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