Fair deal scheme.

R

RPC757

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Hi,

Looking for advice on the following. Am currently in process of applying for nursing home care for my dad (needs 24hr care due to dementia).

Father is receipt of state pension and a small private pension from 35 yrs in a private company. Mother is still in family home and in receipt of state pension also. I understand my dad has to contribute 80 per cent of income towards his care under the fair deal scheme. My question relates to his private pension; has my mother any claim on this income or is it all subject to 80 per cent? If the situation was reversed and mam was going to care then they wouldn't lose any of the private pension which seems very unfair.

Thanks for your help.
 
For a single person it is up to 80% of net income, for a married couple it is up to 80% of half the combined net income.

If one partner has a bigger pension than the other and the one with the smaller pension needs care, the one with the bigger pension may end up paying part of their pension too.

eg a couple where the husband's net pension is 40k and the wife's is 10k.
Total 50k.
Half of 50k is 25k.
80% of 25k is 20k.

If the wife goes into care she pays all of her pension and her husband pays 10k from his pension and is left with 30k for himself.

The minimum that the remaining spouse can be left with is half the combined i.e 25k in this case.

PS interest from savings, dividends etc. counts as income.
 
So just to be clear in my mind. Both parents have state pension of €223. This equates to approx 23k P.A. My dad (who is going to nursing home) has a private pension of approx 15k.

Based on the above 50% of 38k is 19k. 80% of this is approx 15.2k. Is this correct?

Thanks
 
Yes, that is my understanding of it.

Remember that that is only the income side of the assessment. Assets (incl the family home) are also taken account of when calculating the contribution. For a married couple the first 72,000 of assets is ignored but above that threshold you pay a yearly contribution of up to 5% of the value of the assets per year. I presume for a married couple that would be 5% of half the value of all assets over 72,000.

For the family home, the 5% contribution stops if the person is in the nursing home for more than 3 years but for other assets its 5% per year for however long they are in the nursing home.

If the person divests himself of assets up to 5 years before he enters the nursing home, those assets (that he no longer has) can also be taken account of when calculating the contribution.
 
Re the Family home:- the payment to Hse would be 2.5% of the value of the family home (for max. 3 years) when the other spouse still resides there
 
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