Thurrock Council's Financial Assessment and Benefit advice service (FABA) offers a financial assessment and provides advice about benefits entitlement to adults who need social care support.
If your care needs assessment shows that you may need social care services your details will be passed to us. We will then contact you to make an appointment to carry out a financial assessment.
You can ask a friend or relative to be with you during this assessment if you want.
If someone else looks after your money please tell us as that person will need to be involved in your financial assessment. He/she will also need to have legal status to act on your behalf. For example,
If you or your partner receives Income Support or Pension Credit we will need to see financial documents for both of you. If this does not apply to you, you may still wish to tell us about your partners` financial circumstances to make sure that any charges you are asked to pay will not cause your joint finances to fall below the acceptable level.
We will send you a letter confirming the time and date of your assessment and the name of the visiting officer(s). We will also send you financial documents and information that we will need to see. These will include forms giving permission to:
Please make this information available during your assessment.
You do not have to give us information about your finances. However if we can not assess your financial circumstances then you will have to pay the full cost of your care. The table below shows details of our care charges:
We will assume that you want to disclose your details to the council until you advise us otherwise.
If you are on Direct Payments you will be charged for the services identified by your care needs assessment.
During this visit we will also look at benefits or state pensions you receive. If there are other benefits you are entitled to, but are not claiming, we will help you to complete the necessary forms.
We will write to you in 7 working days to confirm how much you will need to pay towards your support. However, we do try to give an indicative charge at the meeting.
FAB has a joint working partnership with the DWP (Pension Service - www.thepensionservice.gov.uk) to make it easy for you to apply for the benefits you are entitled to.
This means that if you apply for a benefit at your financial assessment, we can complete your application for you without you seeing a DWP officer.
We only use your financial information to work out how much you should pay for your care unless you give us permission to use it for other purposes such as supporting your benefit application.
If you have more than £23,250 in your account, we will not carry out an assessment as you will be responsible for paying your own care cost. If your savings are below this threshold, you may be eligible for support from the council to help pay some of the costs.
If you have a care package for either practical help at home or personal care, you will need a financial assessment. You may also need an assessment if you will be attending a day-care centre.
If you can no longer live independently at home, you may need to go for a short (respite) stay at a residential care home or on a permanent basis. You will need to have a financial assessment for both.
We will allow you to keep £22.30 per week for personal expenses.
If your stay is temporary, you will be able to keep £11.85 per week to cover the cost of keeping your home running. For example,
Residential care is not free unless you are covered under Section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983:
If you own a property and go into residential care you may have to pay the full cost. However, you will not have to use your property to pay for your care if you leave dependants at home. We can supply a full list of exclusions at request.
You can also go onto the Government's Deferred Payments scheme to allow you to set your care costs as a charge against the equity in your property until it is sold. You have to pay a contribution each month.
If you need further information, contact us at the addresses below.
