Question reference: S3W-01796
- Asked by: Alasdair Allan, MSP for Western Isles, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 29 June 2007
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Current status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 July 2007
Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, when determining questions of property deprivation for the purposes of calculating the cost of personal care, it will disregard property in cases where a home has been made over to a family member who has to live in a tied house due to their employment conditions and who has no other home in the event of their employment terminating.
Answer
Local authorities take no accountof property or any other assets in determining free personal care payments to peopleaged 65 or over whom they assess as needing residential care.
The National Assistance (Assessmentof Resources) Regulations 1992 provide the framework for local authorities to chargefor care that they provide or arrange in residential care homes. The Scottish Executiveprovides local authorities with guidance on charging. It is for the local authorityto decide in each case whether or not to disregard the value of a property in assessingthe resident’s contribution towards the cost of residential care, having regardto the guidance on the deprivation of capital and treatment of property. The regulationsand the guidance include circumstances in which property must be disregarded.