6.2 How is a financial assessment carried out5 ?
See our paying for social care web page.
Light touch financial assessment
There are some situations where the Council will not need to carry out a full financial assessment of your ability to pay towards your care and support. Instead a ‘light touch’ financial assessment will be completed (a Care Finance Officer will contact you to confirm this). You can still ask the Council to carry out a full financial assessment.
Examples of when a ‘light touch’ assessment may be carried out:
- Your capital assets are above the upper capital limit – if you know that your capital assets are above the upper capital limit you will not need a full financial assessment. A Care Finance Officer will contact you to confirm that you are assessed to pay the full charge of your care and support.
- You have declined to provide information about your financial situation- if you do not wish to provide information about your financial situation you do not have to. A Care Finance Officer will contact you to confirm that you will be assessed to pay the full charge of your care and support.
If your financial assessment is a ‘light touch’ financial assessment, the Care Finance Officer will write to you to confirm:
- What you have been assessed to pay towards your care and support and the basis of the financial assessment
- That you can ask them to complete a full financial assessment at any time
Start date of charges
Your charge will start from the date your care and support services commenced.
Your care charge will be backdated to the date your placement commenced; you should ensure you retain sufficient monies to pay this sum. See also financial assessment reviews.
Welfare benefit entitlements
As part of the financial assessment our Client Finance Officers will offer you a full benefits check6 .
What happens if you are possibly entitled to additional welfare benefits? The Care Finance Officer will signpost you to contact the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) or a third party agency (such as Age UK) who can then assist you with applying for any additional benefits to which you may be entitled.
What happens if you already receive welfare benefits? The Care Finance Officer will check the amount you are receiving and the breakdown of the benefits.
What happens if you are entitled to additional welfare benefits or a reassessment of welfare benefits? If you become entitled to additional benefit this will affect your financial assessment. The Care Finance Officer will confirm to you in writing the new charge you will be required to pay towards your costs of care and support. If your entitlement to the new welfare benefit is backdated the charge will be backdated to the same date or to the date your care and support started if this is later.
What happens if you choose not to apply for benefits you are entitled too? If you decide not to apply for a welfare benefit that you are entitled to and the Council is satisfied that the benefit income would have been available to you if you had made the application for that benefit we will consider that benefit income as ‘notional income’ in your financial assessment7 . The Care Finance Officer will confirm this to you in writing and confirm your care charge based on your financial assessment including the notional income.
- 5See the Councils Guide Working Out Your Care charges Annex A and Sample form Annex C.
- 6In accordance with The Social Security (information-sharing in relation to Welfare Services etc.) Regulations 2012, made using powers under sections 130 and 131 of the Welfare Reforms Act 2012.
- 7Annex B Clause 29(a) of the Care and Support Statutory Guidance.