Introduction
 Our charges for home care and day care
 How your income is assessed
 Other issues regarding your contribution
 Contacts and questions

This page explains about the charges you will pay for home care and day centre services only. You will be asked to pay separately for other community care services, for example meals or transport services.

The Government has asked all Social Services Departments to charge for home care and day centre services in a similar way:

• Charging should reflect the amount of service received, no more flat rates.
• Charging must not reduce a person's income below a minimum level (the level of basic Income Support or Pension Guarantee Credit which is appropriate to the person plus a buffer of 25%).

When we arrange home care or day centre services for people living in the community it wants to ensure that the contribution people make towards the cost of their care is fair and affordable.

Our charges for home care and day centre services

We have a set of maximum charges. These are applied to you and the home care and/or day centre services you receive.

The maximum contribution you might be asked to pay is:

• Half hour of home care: £6.95
• Per hour of home care: £13.90
• Day centre services per session: £10.30
• Day centre services per day (i.e. 2 sessions per day): £20.60
• For each delivery of shopping: £6.95

Example: If someone has 5 hours home care and 2 sessions of day care per week, their maximum charge will be as follows:

Home care (5 hours at £13.90 per hour): £69.50
Day centre services (2 sessions at £10.30 per session): £20.60
Maximum weekly charge: £90.10

How your income is assessed
You will be asked to provide details of your weekly income which we will use to work out how much of it should be set aside and how much of it should be considered in working out how much you will be asked to contribute. This is called your "Assessable Income".
Remember you will not be left with less than Income Support or Job Seekers Allowance rate plus 25% as your disposable income after you have made your contribution for care. The Council will also take into account any disability related expenditure that you have and essential living costs.

To work out what your Assessable Income is, we will ignore specific type of incomes including:

• Earnings
• Disabled Living Allowance (mobility component)
• Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit
• Winter Fuel Payments

While we are going through your income details, we will ask some questions which may help identify where you are not claiming sufficient benefit.

Disability benefits
Disability benefits are Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance and the Severe Disability Premium paid with Income Support. If you get disability related benefits, this is taken into account. What you spend is also taken into account which means you should be charged less. We will ignore 35% of your disability benefit to reflect disability related costs you have to meet because of your disability. So for every £1 of disability benefit, 35p will be excluded when we work out your income.

Examples of specific disability related costs are:

• Heating
• Special dietary needs
• Laundry expenses
• Special clothing (including footwear)
• Purchase and maintenance of special equipment
• Transport costs (net of mobility component of Disability Living Allowance)

We will look at other extra costs that you may have because of your disability.

If you want us to take what you spend into account, you will need to provide receipts and any other supporting information. 

We will also take into account certain other costs that you have to pay. For example:

• Rent not covered by Housing Benefit
• Council Tax not covered by Council Tax Benefit

By taking these costs into account how much you will be asked to contribute for home/day care will be reduced.

Your savings or assets
Your savings and capital affect your assessable income. It will be necessary to look at the total amount of savings and capital you have. This will include the value of:

• Bank or building society accounts
• Post Office accounts
• National Savings Certificates
• Stocks and Shares
• Unit Trusts
• ISAs
• PEPs
• TESSAs

In the year April 2008 to March 2009 your savings and capital will be ignored if you have less than £13,500. 

We will assume an income of £1 per week for every £250 you have between £12,000 and £25,000. For example, if you have savings of £15,500 we will assume that the income from your savings is £14 per week and will add this to your income.

You will be asked to pay the maximum contribution to your care if you have savings and capital worth more than £25,000.

We will ignore the value of the property you live in but may include the value of any additional property that you own or part own and any other assets such as land.

Capital levels may change from time to time. We will let you know when this happens and work out a new charge accordingly.

Example: A person has the following income

Your Accessable Income is compared with the maximum weekly charge for the home care and/or day centre services.

You will be asked to pay 75% of your Accessable Income or the maximum charge for the home care or day centre that you receive, whichever is the lowest.

Using the example figures above:
The maximum weekly charge is £90.10.
The Assessable Income is £30.87

The Assessable Income is the lower of the two values, and therefore the weekly contribution would be £20.47.

The important thing about the way this is done is that you will always have more than the buffer amount to live on each week after you have paid for your care.

If you do not have any Assessable Income you will not have to contribute towards your care.

The buffer
The buffer is a safeguard to maintaining your independence of living. It is the amount that you will be left with after we have worked out how much your contribution should be. The buffer is 25% more than the minimum income guarantee levels set by the Department of Work and Pensions each year. You will not have to pay for your care package if your income is below the buffer amount.

You will be not be left with less than the buffer amount after you have paid your home/day care charge.

Other issues regarding your contribution

The Financial Assessment form
To help work out what you will be asked to contribute you need to complete a financial assessment form. The form asks about your income, what you spend, and your savings.

If you leave some of the questions unanswered then the Council may not have all the information required to work out a charge. This could mean that you end up having to pay more than you can afford for your care package.

If you do not complete the form, it will not be possible to work out your contribution. If you do not complete the form you will be asked to pay the maximum charge for your care package.

Benefits advice
We will inform you if the information about your income suggests that you may have a right to additional benefit. We will also let you know how to get help with claiming any additional benefit to which you may be entitled.

Appeals and Reviews
If you are not happy with the way your contribution has been worked out call the Charges Helpline on 020 8871 6218 weekdays between 9am and 5pm or email ssfairercharges@wandsworth.gov.uk

We will send you a leaflet explaining what to do if you think a mistake has been made when calculating your charge or if you think your charge is too high. This leaflet leaflet explaining this will be sent with the letter which tells you what your contribution is.

Ways to pay
We will explain the various ways you can pay your contribution when it notifies you of how much you are required to pay. You can call the Charges Helpline on 020 8871 6218 between 9am and 5pm.

Contacts and questions
If you have any questions, or queries or you need further information about our charging policy for home care and day centre services telephone 020 8871 6218 or write to:

The Assessment, Benefits and Charges Team
Wandsworth Council
Adult Social Services Department
Lyon House, 1st Floor
102-104 High Street
London SW18 4LA
Email: ssfairercharges@wandsworth.gov.uk

Further information
The following information leaflets give more details on the way we charge for our services. To ask for any of these leaflets or other information about Health and Social Services contact CareLine on 020 8875 0500 or email leaflets@careline.clara.net.

• How to appeal against your Charges
• Your Home Care and Day Centre Charges Explained
• Home Care and Day Care