Money Matters (Adults)

Stay warm this winter

Find out lots of useful information about energy support on our new page:

Stay warm this winter - information about energy support

SCOPE

SCOPE offer free energy and water advice to disabled people, helping them to manage their energy and water needs. 

The service is open to:

• any disabled person or households where 1 or more disabled people live, and
• those households are in England or Wales

You can make a telephone appointment or send them an email.

Full details are on their Disability Energy Support webpage

You can sign up to a Priority Services Register (PSR) to receive extra help from your energy or water company. It’s free to sign up.

You do not need to show proof of your condition, age or situation. You’re eligible if you:

• have reached your State Pension age 
• are disabled or have a long-term medical condition
• are recovering from an injury
• have a hearing or sight condition
• have a mental health condition
• are pregnant or have children under 5
• have extra communication needs, such as if you do not speak or read English well

You might still be able to register for other reasons if your situation is not listed. For example, if you need short-term support after a stay in hospital.

View the SCOPE webpage Priority Services Register for extra help from energy and water companies for more details

We understand that due to the current cost of living crisis things may be very difficult at the moment and nobody should consider having to cancel their care because they cannot afford it. 

If you are considering doing this, please contact the council’s Financial Assessment Team for a discussion to see if they can help in any way.  

Tel. 01733 454446

Email at faoteam@peterborough.gov.uk

The team can look at ways to help you to afford your care.  They can check that you are claiming all relevant disability related expenditure and that you are receiving all the benefits that you are entitled to.

Making sure you live at home for as long as possible

We provide services in a way that promotes independence, ensuring that people who need care are able to live at home for as long as possible.

Some people arrange their own social care services for different reasons.

If you are arranging and paying the full costs of your care, you are known as a ‘self-funder’. This means that either:

• you have chosen not to approach adult social care for help, or
• you have been assessed but you are not currently eligible for social care services, or
• you have approached adult social care and, although your needs show that you are eligible for services, your savings are above £23,250.  If you move to a care home and you owned your own home, the value of your property may be included in this figure

If you are leaving hospital as a self funder, you can find some useful information in the information sheet on this page called 'Paying for your own care and support when you leave hospital'.

Someone else managing your money

If you are having difficulty managing your own money, you can choose to have someone else do this for you, such as a friend or relative. There are a number of ways to achieve this, including:

• providing authority to your bank or building society for someone to act on your behalf, known as a 'third party mandate'

• drawing up a legal document known as an Ordinary Power of Attorney – to allow someone to manage your finances by acting on your behalf
  drawing up a legal document known as a Lasting Power of Attorney – to allow someone to manage your finances by acting on your behalf, even if you lose mental capacity in the future

• choosing someone to act as an appointee for you, who can receive and manage your social security benefits. In some circumstances, the council can do this for you.

Managing someone else's money

If you care for someone and they lose their mental capacity to manage their own finances, you can manage these on their behalf in one of three ways:

• by using the authority given to you by a Lasting Power of Attorney

• apply to the Court of Protection to become a Deputy to manage their financial and property affairs

• apply to the Department for Work and Pensions to become an appointee to receive and manage their social security benefits.

Making a will

Your will lets you decide what happens to your money, property and possessions after your death.

If you make a will you can also make sure you don’t pay more Inheritance Tax than you need to.

You can write your will yourself, but you should get advice if your will isn’t straightforward.

You need to get your will formally witnessed and signed to make it legally valid.

If you want to update your will, you need to make an official alteration (called a ‘codicil’) or make a new will.

If you die without a will, the law says who gets what.

The Government website 'making a will' is a good source of infomation

Planning for later life

As you get older, it’s important to think about planning for your later life, including any care and support that you may need. Independent financial advice can help you to:

• make balanced and reasoned decisions

• ensure you get the best from your money and investments that will help you to meet any long term care costs

• provide some certainty and security.

It can be difficult making life changing decisions by yourself, so an independent financial adviser can provide specialist knowledge tailored to your own circumstances to help and support you.  

The Money Helper

You can find independent financial advice yourself by visiting the Money Helper website

You can also find advice to help you choose the right care services, setting up a power of attorney, and dealing with problems on their Long-ter care page. 

Search for independent financial advisers

You can search for independent financial advisers in the category list on this page.

What you're entitled to

You can find out what benefits you may be entitled to by visiting the Benefits Calculator.

There is lots more useful information on our Welfare Benefits page.

What is Attendance Allowance?

Attendance Allowance is a payment available to people aged over 65 who, due to an illness or disability, would benefit from help with washing, dressing or eating, during the day or overnight.

Attendance Allowance is one of a number of benefits for older people. It isn't means tested and is available to anyone needing care at home or in a care home, as long as they meet the eligibility criteria. It’s intended for:

• people of pension age who meet the eligibility criteria (by the end of 2018 the state pension age for women had been raised to 65 years, to match the age for men; from 2019 the age will gradually increase for both men and women)
• people who have a physical disability (including a sensory disability, such as blindness), a mental disability (including dementia and learning difficulties), or both. It isn’t necessary for the person to be receiving any assistance or supervision. As long as they’re considered to be in a position where they would benefit from such support, they will meet this criteria
• people with a disability severe enough to need help caring for themselves, or need someone to supervise them, for their own or someone else’s safety
• those who have needed the required level of ‘care and supervision’ for the previous six months before becoming entitled to claim Attendance Allowance (unless claiming under the special rules for the terminally ill). Those six months can include the period before reaching pension age.

There is lots of useful information about Attendance Allowance on the Which? page.

You can also find out more on the gov.uk website.

Find out about other benefits on our Welfare Benefits page.

Finding out if you qualify

Before you can consider funding, you will need a formal social care assessment to find out what level of care you need.  You can find out more about this on the Help to live at home page.

You will have to pay the full cost of your care if you have more than £23,250 in savings. Unless you're going into a care home, this amount does not include the value of your property.

If your savings are less than £23,250 but more than £14,250 then Peterborough City Council will pay for your care, but you will have to contribute £1 to the fees for every £250 of savings you have.

If you have less than £14,250 in savings, your care can usually be funded by the council but you may have to pay a contribution towards this from your income - and the size of your contribution will largely depend on the level of your income. If your income is very high, then you may need to meet all the costs of your care yourself, but your charge will always be based on what you can afford.

Ways of paying for your care

Paying for your care at home

Social care and support, unlike health care provided by the NHS, is not usually free of charge.  If you have been assessed by us as needing ongoing care and support, you will be offered a financial assessment to work out how much you may need to pay towards the care you receive, and to provide advice about welfare benefits. No-one is asked to pay more towards their care than they can afford.  You can find out more on the Paying for your care at home page.

Paying for your care in a care home

A financial assessment calculates how much you need to pay towards the cost of your care in a care home by looking at your income, savings and capital and will also provide advice on welfare benefits which you may be entitled to.  You can find out more on our Paying for your care in a care home page.

NHS Continuing Healthcare 

NHS Continuing Healthcare

Some people with long-term complex health needs qualify for free social care arranged and funded solely by the NHS. This is known as NHS continuing healthcare.

NHS continuing healthcare can be provided in a variety of settings outside hospital, such as in your own home or in a care home.

Am I eligible for NHS continuing healthcare?

To be eligible for NHS continuing healthcare, you must be assessed by a team of healthcare professionals (a multidisciplinary team). The team will look at all your care needs and relate them to:

• what help you need
• how complex your needs are
• how intense your needs can be
• how unpredictable they are, including any risks to your health if the right care isn't provided at the right time

Your eligibility for NHS continuing healthcare depends on your assessed needs, and not on any particular diagnosis or condition. If your needs change then your eligibility for NHS continuing healthcare may change.

The Money Advice Service - Paying for Care

You can learn about NHS and self-funding options, managing direct payments, and other ways to pay for your care on their paying for care webpage

What are ISFs?

ISFs were formally introduced in the Care Act 2014, as an option for commissioning self- directed support.

The Care Act guidance states (s11.30 Care Act Guidance):

“There are three main ways in which a personal budget can be deployed:

• as a managed account held by the local authority with support provided in line with the persons wishes
• as a direct payment
• as a managed account held by a third party (often called an individual service fund or ISF) with support provided in line with the persons wishes”

• Direct payments have high levels of choice and control, and high levels of responsibility
• Local Authority managed services can have lower levels of choice and control for the individual. Cambridgeshire County Council will have most ongoing management responsibilities
• ISFs provide a middle option for choice and control

How ISFs work

In Peterborough, ISFs are due to become available for some people from December 2021. Your social worker will inform you if this option is available to you.

If ISFs are an option for you, a suitable organisation will be asked to manage your personal budget on your behalf. Your family, advocate or carer could also help you. You would work with the organisation to plan support services and activities to help achieve the outcomes identified in your care and support plan.

ISFs can be used for a range of different purchases as long as they demonstrate that they are achieving positive outcomes for you. The services and activities must help meet your assessed needs.

The organisation managing your ISF can:

• provide services for you, if it offers these
• commission other providers or buy sessional support. For example massage therapy, swimming lessons or yoga classes
• purchase and maintain equipment such as assistive technology (where this is not already available through the local authority or NHS)
• co-ordinate and support if you choose to pool and share your financial resources and support with other individuals 

Further information

Individual Service Funds (ISFs) in Dorset - Centre for Welfare Reform

Individual Service Funds guide - (skillsforcare.org.uk)

Individual Service Funds (ISFs) and Contracting for Flexible Support - Think Local Act Personal

Individual Service Funds – a guide (citizen-network.org)

Case study - Trudy

Trudy is a confident 63 year old with learning difficulties. She moved from a residential care home, to a supported living setting with an ISF. Support staff help Trudy to be more independent. They have provided Trudy with a personal alarm, and a medication dispenser, and help her to prepare her own food.

With a simple colour coded grid, Trudy chooses how to spend her budget each week. She decided that she didn’t want to go to day services any more. She is now more active in the community and she has taken on an allotment. She has also found a volunteer to help her at a local stables. By changing the support colours on her grid, Trudy makes her own decisions on her life and independence.

Controlling how you recieve the support you need

Personal budgets can help to give you more choice and control over how you receive the support you need to help you to live independently. You will find more details on our Personal budgets and direct payments website page.

What is a personal health budget?

A personal health budget is an amount of money to support your health and wellbeing needs, which is planned and agreed between you (or someone who represents you), and your local NHS team. You can find out more about personal health budgets on NHS.Uk website.

In Peterborough, you can learn more about these budgets from PCVS, via direct.payments@pcvs.co.uk or 01733 342 683.

How to pay

If you have an invoice from Peterborough City Council to pay for care, you can do it on this page:

Paying an Adult Social Care invoice

Support and advice regarding debt

You can find a list of debt advisors here.

If you are worried about debts and bills support is available at Making Money Count.

You can find information about Breathing Space (government Debt Respite Scheme) here.

Mastercard has extended its commitment to inclusivity by introducing a new accessible card standard for blind and partially sighted people, called the Touch Card.

There are few effective ways for the visually impaired to quickly determine whether they're holding a credit, debit or prepaid card, particularly as more cards move to flat designs without embossed name and numbers. Mastercard is addressing this challenge with a simple yet effective innovation.

Mastercard’s concept has been vetted and endorsed by The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) in the U.K.

The following FAQ's provide further information.

How do I get my card?

Please contact your bank to discuss The Touch card.

What benefits does it provide?

• Notches to help visually impaired consumers identify and orient a card – for swiping, dipping or inserting.
• Concept shapes to indicate card type – round for credit; trapezoidal for debit; triangular for prepaid.
• Differentiates bank cards from non-payment cards (membership, access, ID, etc.).

Why can’t I have braille on my card?

Braille is much larger than the printed information and there is not enough space on the card to include all the required information in braille. 

Why can’t the font be larger?

There is a lot of information on the bank card that is required and it is not always possible to make the font larger.

RNIB’s guidelines specify that the font should not be any smaller than the current embossed cards and there should be sufficient contrast. The minimum font size specified for the 16-digit number is equivalent to 18-point Arial which benefits many people. Most other important information is equivalent to at least 14-point Arial which is considered to be clear print.

Why can’t all cards be black and white?

Black and white is a very good contrast and will ensure that the text stands out well. However, banks want to ensure that their cards stand out and are easily identified from other banks. Different designs and different colours benefit many people with residual vision.

Why can’t I just keep my embossed card?

Banks are making the decision to move to flat cards and not provide embossed cards anymore. RNIB can’t influence this, so have shared best practise guidelines to banks to ensure they understand the need for a tactile solution that ensures flat cards are still accessible for people who are unable to see the information on the card.

Why can’t you remove the signature strip and make the information larger

Some banks offer the option to have a chip and sign card and the signature strip is a requirement of this card.

If this is not required this can be removed however this is the discretion of the bank.

Why do banks move over to flat cards?

The embossing on cards that was required many years ago to make a carbon copy is no longer required, and this has allowed card providers the opportunity of changing the card design. Although this creates challenges for people who are unable to see the visual information, it allows flexibility with the visual design of the bank card which benefits not only visually impaired customers, but all customers as the information is bigger with improved colour contrast.