09. What benefits might I be able to claim?

If you are moving permanently into residential care, you may be eligible for some welfare benefits. The system for older people is due to change in October 2003 and not all the details are available at the time of writing. A few pointers, based on current benefit rules are set out below. Some of the main ones are as follows.

If you move into a residential care home that you pay for yourself, you may be able to claim benefits such as Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance. But if the council is paying part of the fees, some benefits may be stopped after you have been in the home for four weeks.

If you have a low income, but the value of your home means that you cannot get help from the council, you may be able to get Income Support (also called the Minimum Income Guarantee or MIG) to help you pay home fees while you are waiting to sell your property. This can last for up to 26 weeks. From October 2003 for people over 60, the Minimum Income Guarantee is to be replaced by Pension Credit.

You may be able to get Income Support even iIf your savings were too high to qualify for income-related benefits before you moved into a home, you may find you become eligible once you have moved – the savings limits are higher for people living in residential care. before you moved. The Department for Work and Pensions (which used to be the Department of Social Security) has similar sorts of rules to councils (but the amounts are different). Their limits on what you can own are higher for people living in residential care homes (£16,000) than for people living in their own home. In some cases, the value of your home does not count. For those over 65, the Pension Credit will include more generous treatment of second pensions and savings in determining benefits.

If you are married and move into residential care, but your husband or wife remains at home, the things you own jointly will not be taken into account (except savings which will be treated as if owned 50:50). The amount of income support will be worked out as if you were a single person. It will work out the amount of any Income Support you receive as if you were a single person. And if you and your husband or wife live in different residential care homes or nursing homes, you will be treated as if you were both single for these purposes.

For more about claiming benefits, contact your local social security office, Job Centre or Job Centre Plus, or the Pensions Service if you are a pensioner. Or see the Department of Work and Pensions website (see 'Further help'). For more about your rights when claiming benefits, see the Community Legal Service leaflet, 'Welfare benefits'.

What must my husband or wife do for me?

By law, husbands and wives must support each other (called 'liable relatives'). Your husband's or wife's income and capital cannot be taken into account in working out what you have to pay or the benefits you get in residential care. But they can be asked if they will pay for some of the cost of your care. This is only for married couples - unmarried partners (and other relatives) are not 'liable relatives'.

There are no rules about how much a liable relative has to pay. Your husband or wife can try to negotiate an amount that seems reasonable. They do not have to give the authorities any information about their income or savings. If they can't reach an agreement, the council may apply through the courts if they really think that your husband or wife should help with the costs of your care.

None of this should make any difference to the care you get. You must still get the care you need, even if your husband or wife refuses to help pay for it.