SCFA User Guide

Contents

 

Version history                                                               3

Introduction                                                                    4

Initial Input                                                                       4

About Your Claim                                                          5

Income and Benefits                                                   6

Benefit Details                                                                6

Disability Benefits                                                        8

Pensions                                                                          10

Other Income                                                               11

Savings                                                                              12

Outgoings                                                                        15

Declaration                                                                     17

Request Calculation                                                  18

Appendix A                                                                      20

Calculation Explanation                                           20

Calculator Settings                                                      21

Calculation Table (Rates File)                                21

 

Version history

Version	Details	Updated by	Date
1.0	Initial Release	Keith R. Lowe	15/04/2021

Introduction

The Social Care Financial Assessment is an application that determines the amount of funding that an applicant could have to pay towards their Social Care based on the financial information that they have supplied.

There are two options to this product:

The first option allows an applicant to anonymously find out if they would have to pay any or all funding towards their social care.   A calculation is made based on financial information supplied by the applicant, government legislated benefits and disregards, and is completed without declaring any personal information.

The second option also performs the same calculation but requires more detailed information such as their name, address etc.   This second option results in an actual application to the Local Authority for them to follow up as a request for funding.

This guide relates to Option 1 - Find out if you can get help with care costs:

 

Online Form

Initial Input

 

 

If the applicant has already commenced an application (noted the application reference, and saved it), then they can continue from where they left off by entering their saved reference number in the appropriate field as shown on the screen.

By pressing on the first box on the screen above, the following screen appears which requests detail that is essential to making the calculation.

 

About Your Claim

 

 

It is important that this detail is entered correctly as ‘Date of Birth’, ‘your current living situation’ and whether you have a ‘partner’ or not are used significantly throughout the process to determine both allowances and disregards.

 

By pressing on the first box on the screen above, the following screen appears which requests detail that is essential to making the calculation.

 

Income and Benefits

 

 

Benefit Details

 

Capturing Income and Benefits are the first stage of the finance detail that is required.

 

There is a drop-down list of Benefits (not including the Disability Benefits, details of which are requested later) that are taken into consideration as follows:

 

Income Support - Under 60

Pension Credit – Guarantee Credit

Pension Credit – Savings Credit

State Pension

War Disablement Pension

Severe Disablement Allowance

Incapacity Benefit

Employment Support Allowance

Child Benefit

Child Tax Credit

Bereavement Allowance

Industrial Death Benefit

Maintenance Payments from a former partner

Maternity Allowance

Rent Income from Other Properties

Trust Fund Payment

Working Tax Credit

Universal Credit Personal Allowance Universal Credit Health Allowance

Widowed Parents Allowance

War Widows or Widowers Pension

Carers Allowance

Employment Support Allowance

          

Disability Benefits

The second section that requires capturing for income are the Disability Benefits that are taken into consideration, with a drop-down list as follows:

 

Armed Forces Independence Payment

PIP - Mobility (Enhanced Amount)

PIP - Mobility (Standard Amount)

PIP - Daily Living (Enhanced Amount)

PIP - Daily Living (Standard Amount)

DLA - Care (Higher Amount)

DLA - Care (Middle Amount)

DLA - Care (Lower Amount)

DLA - Mobility (Enhanced Amount)

DLA - Mobility (Standard Amount)

Attendance Allowance - Higher Amount

Attendance Allowance - Lower Amount

 

 

Up to 5 of the above Disability Benefits can be included for the Calculation.

Details of how much you receive and how often the Disability Benefit is received are required for each Benefit selected.

 

Pensions

The third section that requires capturing for income are any Pensions that are taken into consideration as follows:

 

 

Up to 5 of the above Pensions can be included for the Calculation.

Details of how much you receive and how often the Pension is received are required for each Benefit selected.

 

Other Income

 

The fourth section that requires capturing for income are any ‘Other Income’ that is not already been requested, as follows:

 

 

Savings

 

Once Benefits and Income have been included, the next section deals with Savings.  There are two different requests for financial information.  One related to capital, savings or investments or whether you own any property, and the other related to your bank accounts, building society accounts or post office accounts.

 

Details of who the account is with, along with how much you have in each account are required for each Bank Account entered.

Further financial information relating to any other investments or property is then required:

 

 

The value of the Premium Bond(s) is required.

 

The value of the National Savings Certificate(s) is required.

 

 

The value of the  any Stock(s) and Share(s) is required.

 

 

The value of the Property or Time Share is required. 

 

Outgoings

 

Further financial information relating to any regular outgoings is then required:

There is a drop-down list of these allowable outgoings that are taken into consideration as follows:

Ground Rent

Service Charges

Mortgage

Council Tax

Water Rates

Buildings Insurance

Contents Insurance

Loans secured against your property - not a mortgage

Gas

Electricity

Costs for private care we assessed you as needing

Payments under a court order

 

 

 

Up to 10 expense categories can be included for the Calculation.  

 

 

Details of how much you pay and how often it is paid are required for each Expense Detail selected.

 

An equalities screen is then displayed optionally requesting information about your ethnic origin, and the language that you speak.  This will enable The LA to arrange an interpreter if the application necessitates a discussion.

 

Declaration

Finally a Declaration is needed to ensure that the information you have supplied is accurate and complete.  This is a mandatory field that needs ticking, without agreement to which, the Calculation cannot be made.

 

 

Request Calculation

 

On pressing Submit, a Calculation is made and presented in two forms:

If a calculation can be made, as the information provided does not put you over the limit of a contribution, the following will appear:

 

 

If a calculation cannot be made, as the information provided puts you over the limit of a contribution, the following will appear:

 

 

Appendix A

Calculation Explanation

 

We go through the following steps for this calculation:

 

1. Requesting INCOME financial information of the applicant’s:
   • Income and Benefits (such as State Pension, Child Benefit, Income Support).
   • Disability Benefits (such as Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Personal Independence Payment).
   • Other Pensions (such as an Occupational Pension).
   • Savings (such as with a Bank or Building Society, or any Property ownership).
   • Investments and Property (such as Premium Bonds, National Savings or Investments in other Property).
   • Stock, Shares, Unit Trusts.
2. Requesting OUTGOING financial information of the applicant’s:
   • 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.  The output time period will always be weekly.  Financial data entered in any other time period will always be converted to a weekly value. 
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:  
6. Total of all income (A). 
7. Total of all outgoings (B).  
8. Government legislated (and some LA) allowances (C) (In a Rates File – see below).  
9. Government legislated (and some LA) disregards (D) (In a Rates File – see below).

(A + C) – (B + D) = Contribution

 

Calculator Settings

The allowances and disregard values are highly configurable - on a per-Local Authority basis where applicable.  Also, we use Government Legislative set amounts for allowances and disregards which we can modify based on changes in legislation or Local Authority requirements. 

 

Calculation Table (Rates File)

           

The values in the Rates File (for Financial Year 2020/2021) are as follows:

 

FINANCIAL RATE CALCULATIONS:	GOV or LA Decision	20/21 Rate	USED AS
SharesMultiplier	GOV	0.9	A percentage of Shares Value used in the calculation for Benefits; 10% of shares disregard in assessments, Share Calculator: (SHARE PRICE/100) X no of shares = Total value of shares. Then, the 10% is deducted to account for share price variance. TOTAL VALUE – (TOTAL VALUE/10) = Amount included with assessment.
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. 2. LA has ability to change this other than if permanent resident in Care Home.
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 their personal expenses. Always allow in Residential Assessments
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
AgeGroup1: is aged 18 or older but less than 25 AgeGroup2: is aged 25 or older but less than pension credit age AgeGroup3: has attained pension credit age			At the minute Age Group 3 is 60+  (But can be changed by ieg4)