In this section you will find information on:

  • Occupational and private pensions
  • Savings
  • Bonds

Once you move into a care home, managing your finances can be become a complicated affair. You may have money going to the care home and it may also be going home to support your partner, so it is important to know what goes where – and how much the local authority can take.

Occupational and private pensions

The council must ignore 50% of your occupational pension AS LONG AS you use that entire portion to support your husband or wife at home. This rule only applies to married couples. If you want to use some of your occupational or private pension to support a partner who is not a spouse, you have to ask the local authority for an increase in your Personal Expenses Allowance.

Savings

The use of savings to calculate your care home fees can be tricky because many couples use joint savings accounts. This can cause problems when it comes to calculating the costs; by the nature of a joint account not all the money would have been put in by you.

However, for the purposes of the financial assessment, any savings you jointly own will be divided equally between you. It may be possible for you to close this account and open your own savings account with your part of the funds only. But you may need to produce written proof to confirm this.

Bonds

Any bonds that you own can be taken into account unless they have a life assurance element attached to them.