Care and support

What happens to income support?

Income support is a means tested benefit available to people who are under 60 who are ill or disabled, carers or lone parents. If you have capital or income over £16,000 you are not entitled to income support, whether your stay is temporary or permanent. From October 2008, income support for people who are sick will be replaced by employment and support allowance.

Example

Ruth has £20,000 in the bank when she goes into permanent residential care. Her only income is her incapacity benefit. She cannot receive income support even if her income is below income support levels, until her capital falls below £16,000.

When you enter a care home on a temporary basis, your income support can be affected in the following circumstance:

• If you are a member of a couple and one of you moves into a care home temporarily, the way your income support is calculated changes. You should get more income support than when you were both in the community.

When you enter a care home on a permanent basis, your income support may be affected if you come into the following groups:

• if you are a member of a couple. When you become a permanent resident, you are treated as a single person. This means that you and your partner will need to make claims as single people. Some people may have been excluded from income support when they were in the community because they had too much capital. If you are in this situation, you may be entitled to income support when entering a care home permanently because the lower capital limit changes. Instead of assuming an income from capital above £6,000, income support will only assume an income from capital above £10,000 and also you and your partner’s capital will no longer be counted together.
• if you own a home. If you are a permanent resident and do not intend to return home, your house will be treated as capital (which may mean you are no longer entitled to income support – see capital limits above) unless
  
• it is occupied by your partner (but not if you are estranged or divorced) OR
• it is occupied by a partner or relative as their home, if that person is over 60 or incapacitated OR
• it is occupied by a former partner, from whom you are estranged or divorced, but only if they are a lone parent
• you are taking steps to sell the property (in which case they ignore its value for 26 weeks – they may ignore it for longer if it is reasonable to in the circumstances).
  If you transfer half of your occupational pension to your partner who is living at home, as you are allowed to do, be aware that this payment may simply reduce the amount of income support that your partner gets.

How do I claim income support?

Claim income support by phone from the jobcentre plus contact centre on 0800 0556688.

What happens to housing and council tax benefit?

When you enter a care home on a permanent basis, you can no longer receive housing benefit for your home in the community. Someone else who lives there may be able to claim housing benefit instead.

If you go permanently into a care home and your previous home is unoccupied (whilst you sell it for example), then the property is exempt from council tax. If your previous home now has only one person living in it, they can get a 25% council tax reduction.

When you enter a care home on a temporary basis, housing and council tax benefit can continue to be paid for up to 52 weeks as long as you intend to return home and you have not sublet your home. They are also payable for up to 13 weeks for ‘trial’ stays in a home (this is when you are trying out a home to see if you like it). Housing and council tax benefit is also payable for the time after you decide to turn a trial into a permanent stay, so long as it falls within the 13 weeks.