Care and Support Charging and Financial Assessment Framework

Contents

• 1. Summary
• 2. Legal context
• 3. Principles of this framework
• 4. Care and support services provided free of charge
• 5. Chargeable care and support services
• 6. Care and support financial assessment policy
• 7. Section 117 and social care packages of care
• 8. Mental capacity to manage finances
• 9. Residence when moving to accommodation outside Bath and North East Somerset Council
• 10. Deferred Payment Agreements (DPAs)
• 11. Interim funding policy
• 12. Choice of accommodation and top up payments
  • 12.1 Third-Party Top-Ups
  • 12.2 First-Party Top-Ups (sometimes known as 'Resident Top-Ups')
  • 12.3 Paying for accommodation
• 13. Funding agreement
• 14. Direct Payments
• 15. Equality Impact Assessment
• 16. Reviewing the Charging and Financial Assessment Framework
• 17. Appeals
• 18. Annex A
• 19. Annex B
• 20. Annex C
• 21. Annex D
• 22. Annex E
• 23. Glossary of terms

12.2 First-Party Top-Ups (sometimes known as 'Resident Top-Ups')

In specific circumstances it is possible for you to pay a ‘top up’ for your preferred accommodation from your own resources. These circumstances are:

• A person entering care home accommodation whose property capital is disregarded for up to the first 12 weeks of the placement and who has either sufficient savings to pay the top-up during those 12 weeks, or disregarded income sufficient to pay the top up during those 12 weeks.
• A person entering care home accommodation whose property capital is disregarded for up to the first 12 weeks of the placement and who immediately enters into a Deferred Payment Agreement (DPA).

You would still be responsible for paying an assessed charge from your capital and income during those 12 weeks. The First Party Top-Up payment will be in addition to your assessed charge shown by your financial assessment. You would need to sign a Top-Up agreement.

With the Councils permission, payment of a First Party Top-Up can be deferred providing that a DPA is agreed between you and the Council before your funding starts.

Your Social Worker will need to request funding from the Council's Panel and obtain this approval before you can be certain that your first party Top-Up and choice of accommodation is guaranteed. you will need to show, amongst other things at the panel meeting, that you intend to apply for a DPA (to start after the 12-week property disregard period), and you consent to a first legal charge on your property under a DPA from the start of your property-disregard period.

The Council may consider the use of a First Party Top-Up in circumstances other than those set out above. People who would like to apply for a First Party Top-Up in a situation other than those set out above should contact our Client Finance Team to explain the exceptional circumstances in their situation for consideration. The Council may need to seek specialist legal advice on a case by case basis, and the costs of this legal advice will be recharged to the individual.