Paying for care
We know that when you are looking at care options, the cost of care will have an impact on your final decision. Live-in care is comparable in price to many residential or nursing homes and it can also provide better value for money than many hourly care services.
Costs
Christies Care primarily works as an employment agency. We introduce suitable, full-time care assistants who live-in with you, working for you, carrying out your instructions.
Your care assistant will be registered as self-employed and will expect to be paid directly every week by you, or a third party such as a power of attorney, accountant or solicitor or family member.
The cost will vary depending on the level of care needed. It generally comprises of the care assistant’s fee, their travel expenses and our own fee for setting up, managing and maintaining the introductory process. In total, it ranges from £600.00 to £700.00 a week.
We make no charge for registration or for visiting you to assess your needs and wishes.
Our agency fee is fixed for the first two years and renewed annually thereafter.
We discuss costs in detail on pages 16 and 17 of our Live-in Care Guide.
Costs are different when we work under contract to Local Authorities and NHS Trusts.
Planning for care costs
Planning for care costs is vital to securing the future of you or your loved one. If you need more information about how to prepare for care costs, we have written a booklet about paying for care, and what help is available
The booklet covers the state funding available and offers advice and information regarding the different ways you can pay for your care costs
To request a copy of our booklet, contact us or download a copy here.
Care Payments Administration (CPA)
Sometimes our clients or their families are unable to manage the finance side of care. This could be due to care issues or family time constraints. To assist in these cases we offer a Care Payments Administration system to help organise paying for your care and administration fees. Here are a few details of the scheme, if you require more information then call us on 0844 499 1601 and we can send you our brochure with the full details of this service.
Christies Care Ltd have worked together with Barclays PLC to produce a debit card that can be pre-loaded and used by the service user to administer their funding.
This can be used for:
• Paying for carers’ fees
• Cash for housekeeping
• Paying regular bills, e.g. telephone, electricity, rent
We can visit the service user and complete an income and expenditure check before the card is opened, if required, as well as the financial risk assessment we already undertake for every service user.
We can monitor the account from our head office, for unusual spend, e.g. purchase of goods from the internet, or spending patterns. We can produce a statement of account at any time for the service user or funding body, if required. The charge for this service would be added to your weekly agency fee.
NHS Continuing Health Care
This is a complete package of services arranged and funded by the NHS which can be provided in various settings including your own home. The service is free and not means tested.
Not everyone who has ongoing health needs will qualify for CHC but there are times when a person’s eligibility should be considered:
If you have a rapidly deteriorating condition which may be terminal
When you are about to be discharged from hospital, particularly if you need permanent full time care at home
When your personal care needs are reviewed
If your physical or mental health decreases rapidly and your current care package becomes inadequate.
Those who live at home and are eligible can have both their health care and their personal care, such as help with dressing and bathing, paid for in full by the NHS. This includes live-in care and Christies Care has an increasing number of clients whose care is at least partly and often fully funded by the NHS.
For more information about the NHS Continuing Health Care service, download the decision support tool here.
Further advice
Age Concern
Help the Aged
Care Aware
Directgov
Department for Work & Pensions
