Make sure that your mother claims Attendance Allowance if she needs constant looking after. This is not taxable. If she lives with a relative carer long term, the carer may be able to claim Carers Allowance - but the rules are complicated, and this is taxable.
I presume that the live-in carers are paid by your mother rather than by the state?
Where an elderly relative lives with you, it is perfectly reasonable for them to pay an equitable share of household expenses - including a bit of grossing up to allow for breakages, carpet stains and a disproportionate amount of washing if they're a bit 'leaky'. It also helps to keep the value of their estate down for IHT purposes if appropriate. If you have Power of Attorney, you can recover the money from their bank account without involving her.
As long as it's justifiable living expenses[1], you can pay yourself fairly generously (we did when my father-in-law lived with us) - but if it's regarded as "payment for services rendered" you probably have to declare it for tax purposes.
[1] these should include a share of council tax, water charge, fuel bills, household insurances, food, etc.
If she qualifies for an NHS prescription for Aricept, she probably qualifies for, at least, the lower rate Attendance Allowance.
On the other hand, unless the power of attorney gives explicit authority to pay for your time, I would get serious professional advice before paying yourself wages, as that might be considered an abuse of trust.
If she is as described, she should be discounted for council tax, on the basis of severe mental impairment.
Although you didn't say so, I hope the power of attorney is a registered lasting power of attorney.
wouldn't an enduring power of attorney, made before Oct 2007 and properly registered, also suffice for what seem to be matters of property and finance?
Yes, indeed. I was, however, suggesting that the relatives simply claimed (slightly generous - for the reasons which I explained) living expenses, *not* wages. That shouldn't be a problem - particularly if they tell the mother (when she's reasonably 'with it') that they're using some of her money to enable her to 'pay her way'.
Probably so. But it's still not unreasonable for her to pay an equitable share of the overall household expenses - in the same way that an adult son or daughter might do, even though the council tax and heating bills might not be increased by their presence. You would simply be dividing the overheads by the number of people in the household.
On the contrary the Court of Protection would take a very dim view of a relative taking such a mercenary approach. The first thing to done is to make sure that the POA has actually been registered. Acting without that being done amounts to theft. The attorney has to act in the interest of the mentally impaired person and is not allowed to enrich themselves in the way the OP thinks they can do.
On the contrary, I was not suggesting anybody getting rich. My sister is just getting fed up with having her mum stay over for a week at a time, when she is unable to work, and getting nothing back for it. She was wondering if she can be paid the same as the carers are getting paid.
Clearly she can claim direct expenses e.g. petrol and food.
Yes of course the LOPA is registered otherwise I would not have mentioned it.
I was referring to the sorts of things that Roger was suggesting. The Court of Protection should have made it clear what costs can reasonably be paid for by the person involved. It seems to me that if your sister is unable, quite reasonably from what you say, to devote the time then perhaps the appropriate thing is for her mother to go into some sort of residential care.
Rubbish. The OP never said his sister was unable to devote the time, he said he thinks she should get some recompense for it, and I agree. So does the State, it offers a carers' allowance for this sort of situation. Yes it is time-consuming and bureaucratic to claim but it is available (sometimes). And the holder of an LPA is perfectly entitled to pay themselves any reasonable expenses.
The old lady should *not* go into residential care unless she has to. Better a full-time live-in carer at her own home than that.
That is absolutely true, which is why we are doing this.
Sticking her into a home and having her assets run down at a rate of some £40k/year, and then dumping her into a sh1tty council home when the money runs out, is not very good. Especially as she is physically strong and well and would "survive" in a home for far longer than the
I did say that "perhaps" some sort of residential care was appropriate but did not say that was the only solution. You are giving rather mixed messages i.e. you say that your wife does not want the responsibility and that live in carers are a problem. Do you have an EPOA or a LPOA and in the latter case which particular aspects does it cover?
Indeed but I know people who had made EPAs and then made only welfare LPAs when the law changed on the basis that they saw no need to pay 2 lots of fees (especially given the scale of the fees).
BeanSmart website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.