The full guidance of the Social Care Financial Assessment Application and Calculation is found separately. This is shorter guidance, specifically in the context of how the calculator functions.
The Social Care Financial Calculator determines the amount of funding that the applicant could have to pay towards their Social Care based on the financial information supplied.
Calculation Overview
We go through the following steps for this calculation:
1. Requesting INCOME financial information of the applicant(s):
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- Income and Benefits (such as State Pension, Child Benefit, Income Support)
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- Disability Benefits (such as Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Personal Independence Payment)
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- Other Pensions (such as an Occupational Pension)
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- Savings (such as with a Bank or Building Society, or any Property ownership)
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- Investments and Property (such as Premium Bonds, National Savings or Investments in other Property)
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- Stock, Shares, Unit Trusts
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2. Requesting OUTGOING financial information of the applicant's:
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- Regular Outgoings ( such as Rent, Mortgage, Council Tax)
3. We check that the total assets are under the maximum Government legislated eligibility limit
4. All financial data has to be of the same time period (such as weekly, four-weekly, monthly) to ensure the calculation is correctly determined.
5. If the total assets are under the maximum eligibility limit, to determine the possible contribution that the applicant would need to make to their Social Care is based on the calculation that requires:
- Total of all income (A)
- Total of all outgoings (B)
- Government legislated (and some LA) allowances (C) (In a Rates File)
- Government legislated (and some LA) disregards (D) (In a Rates File)
(A + C) - (B + D) = Contribution
Calculator Settings
The allowances and disregard values are highly configurable - on a per-Local Authority basis.
Also we the calculator can use Government legislatively set amounts for allowances and disregards, which you can modify based on changes in legislation or Local Authority requirements.
Within eGovHub - navigate to the 'Files' tab. In here select the form - Social Care Financial Assessment.
This will look like this:
The contents of this file are in XML format but the table below describes what each element controls within the calculator:
Editable Calculation Configuration
The values in the Rates File (for Financial Year 2020/2021) are as follows:
|
FINANCIAL RATE CALCULATIONS: |
GOV or LA Decision |
2020/21 Rate |
USED AS |
|
SharesMultiplier |
GOV |
0.9 |
A percentage of Shares Value used in the calculation for Benefits; |
|
JointSavingsMultiplier |
GOV |
0.5 |
If a single person or a couple are living in a care home, and have money in an account, after deducting the cost of the care fees the figure at which the person(s) are eligible for funding is divided by this figure i.e if savings of £40000 and care fees of £13,500 (leaving £26,500) this is multiplied by 0.5 = £13,250 |
|
SavingsTariffLowerLimit |
GOV |
£14,250.00 |
Over this, but no higher than the SavingsTariffUpperLimit is used as the starting point for calculating the Benefit of Savings. |
|
SavingsTariffUpperLimit |
GOV |
£23,250.00 |
1. Over this savings amount and FULL payment of Care Costs are required. |
|
SavingsTariffIncrement |
GOV |
£250.00 |
This is a step amount for calculating what's to be paid between the SavingsTariffLowerLimit and the SavingsTariffUpperLimit. |
|
SavingsTariffRate |
GOV |
1.00 |
This the amount to be disregarded for every SavingsTariffIncrement between the SavingsTariffLowerLimit and the SavingsTariffUpperLimit. |
|
SavingsDisregardSingle |
GOV |
£5.75 |
Applied to all Pension Credit Savings Amount in Residential assessments up to the maximum £5.75. i.e. PC (Savings) amount is £3.23 then disregard amount will be £3.23. |
|
SavingsDisregardSingleLimit |
GOV |
£150.47 |
Minimum Income amount (without Pension Credit (Guarantee) to be eligible for Single Pension Credit Savings Claim. |
|
SavingsDisregardCouple |
GOV |
£8.60 |
Applied to all Pension Credit Savings Amount in Residential assessments up to the maximum £8.60. i.e. PC (Savings) amount is £6.46 then disregard amount will be £6.46. |
|
SavingsDisregardCoupleLimit |
GOV |
£239.17 |
Minimum Income amount (without Pension Credit (Guarantee) to be eligible for Joint Pension Credit Savings Claim. |
|
PersonalExpenseAllowance |
GOV |
£24.90 |
This is the lowest weekly amount that people receiving local authority-arranged care and support in a care home are assumed to need as a minimum for |
|
NonResidentialMaximum |
LA |
£363.00 |
Once calculated, if the weekly contribution/weekly cost of service is higher than this figure, then it will be capped at this limit |
|
NonResidentialDisregardLow |
LA |
£29.45 |
This is applied to AA/DLA (H)/PIP (H)for the higher rate when applicants are not in receipt of Night time care |
|
NonResidentialDisregardHigh |
LA |
£62.25 |
This is applied to DLA (M)/PIP (M) for all non-residential assessments should they receive the higher rate. Lower rate amount would also be disregarded in all assessments |
|
AgeGroup1SingleNotDisabled" & "AgeGroup1SingleDisabled |
LA |
£132.38 |
This applied automatically as a disregard if Single person (Depending upon Age Group) |
|
AgeGroup2SingleNotDisabled" & "AgeGroup2SingleDisabled |
LA |
£151.38 |
This applied automatically as a disregard if Single person (Depending upon Age Group) |
|
AgeGroup3SingleNotDisabled" & "AgeGroup3SingleDisabled |
LA |
£189.00 |
This applied automatically as a disregard if Single person (Depending upon Age Group) |
|
AgeGroup1SingleNotDisabled" & "AgeGroup1SingleDisabled |
LA |
£229.25 |
This applied automatically as a disregard if Single person (Depending upon Age Group) |
|
AgeGroup2CoupleNotDisabled & "AgeGroup2CoupleDisabled |
LA |
£229.25 |
This applied automatically as a disregard if Single person (Depending upon Age Group) |
|
AgeGroup3CoupleNotDisabled & "AgeGroup3CoupleDisabled" |
LA |
£288.56 |
This applied automatically as a disregard if Single person (Depending upon Age Group) |
|
StandardDisabilityRelatedExpenditureAllowance |
LA |
£13.05 |
This is applied automatically as a disregard |
|
DLALowDisabilityRelatedExpenditureAllowance |
LA |
£13.05 |
This is applied automatically as a disregard if only one of the applicant or partner receives DLA/PIP/AA or if only one of the applicant or partner receives the lower rate of DLA |
|
DLAHighDisabilityRelatedExpenditureAllowance |
LA |
£26.10 |
This is only applied automatically as a disregard if both applicant and partner are in receipt of at least middle rate PIP/DLA/AA
|
|
WarDisablementPensionDisregard |
LA |
ALL |
Applied fully as a deduction if selected as a Benefit |
|
WarWidowsDisregard |
LA |
ALL |
Applied fully as a deduction if selected as a Benefit |
|
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|
|
|
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AgeGroup1: is aged 18 or older but less than 25 |
|
|
At the minute Age Group 3 is 60+ |