Where a person’s care is funded wholly or in part by the Local Authority, then the Local Authority can ask for contributions to the cost of that care.
This contribution, sometimes referred to as care charges, uses a financial assessment based on the persons income, therefore uses the disability benefits that have been awarded.
By law, the calculation of contribution charge must leave the person with a Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) figure and cannot use the PIP/DLA Motability component.
Note the MIG figure is quite low, and some councils leave people with just that figure, where others allow the person to keep a higher proportion of their benefits. The charge is issued by the funding authority, not the authority where the person lives, therefore people funded by different authorities in the same setting may have a different basic charge.
Ther charge can be reduced by the submission and acceptance of Disability Related Expenditure.
A person who has S117 aftercare or has been found to have a primary healthcare need, cannot legally be charged care charges. The aftercare should also not be removed unless there has been a change to a person’s need.
