Top tips to make care budget go further

Care is expensive, but there are ways in which you can make your care budget go further. Here are out top tips:

1. Think carefully before deciding on residential care. People are often advised by health professionals that they need a care home without considering all the options, which include live-in-care, if they have a spare room and a home care package,which includes assistive technology and support from friends and neighbours
2. Try to visit more than one care home when looking for residential care. People often look for care homes in crisis situations, but try to look at several homes as you can to find the one which will best suit your parent and your budget. You can compare costs versus facilities and quality of care if you do this
3. Seek advice from a SOLLA financial adviser. SOLLA have many expert financial advisers, who specialise in later life finance and can advise on how to make your care budget go further. It is really worth a chat
4. Negotiate with care providers, both domestic and residential. People do not think they can negotiate care costs and often do not think about it if they need acre in a hurry, but costs are usually negotiable
5. Consider free support via the community. Charities, religious institutions, friends and neighbours can all be looked to for support. If neighbours or friends help out, offer to buy them lunch or afternoon tea as payment in kind. People are often willing to help out if you just ask
6. Differentiate between personal care costs and daily living costs. Personal care costs more, because carers have to be registered and trained to a high standard. Look at what elements of care are personal care and what are daily living care and split them up. It may mean your parent has one carer for washing and dressing and another to help with meals, but often this works well and provides further opportunities to socialise. Also, some older people prefer to have one person dealing with just personal care, as it is so intimate
7. Use assistive technology instead of external carers. Motion sensors and alarms, devices which record reminder messages and other devices can all help older people to continue to live independently without external assistance. Read more about assistive technology and how it can help here
8. Make sure you are claiming the right benefits. Attendance allownace is not means-tested and rates change depending on need, so make sure your parent is claiming their correct entitlement

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Chris Moon-Willems is a published author, qualified and registered social worker and owner of Relative Matters, an elderly care consultancy. She is a respected voice for older people and those responsible for their welfare, based on her extensive social care and NHS experience and personal experience of caring for her elderly parents. Having been approached by a publisher, Chris wrote her book, Relative Matters-The essential guide to finding your way around the care system for older people, which is currently available on Amazon. Chris has appeared on TV, been interviewed on national and local radio and is an accomplished public speaker. Find out more about Chris by visiting her website www.relativematters.org