J&P Expert successfully challenges local authority's care fees

One of the most contentious issues for elderly clients facing mounting care home fees is the question of how their property should be considered when their care home fee contribution is being calculated by a local authority.

Their property is often their most significant financial asset, but unlike a savings plan or other financial instrument, it is also an asset to which they are often deeply personally attached with memories of family and home making over the years. The prospect of potentially being forced to sell the property unnecessarily, to fund care home fees, can therefore be especially distressing for elderly individuals.

Judge & Priestley LLP (J&P) Partner and head of the Private Client team David Chandra was, therefore, most content with the outcome a of a recent case, in which he successfully challenged a local authority’s decision in relation to his client’s care home fee contribution.

The client, who resides in a care home, was lacking capacity to advocate for herself, but after David was appointed as a professional deputy to act on her behalf, he successfully challenged the local authority and had her property disregarded from their care fee calculations. The case took several months to resolve, but the Local Authority finally agreed to ‘write off’ in excess of £100,000.

David commented: “Persistence, expertise and knowledge go a long way, especially when dealing with a complex area like social care funding. I was delighted with the outcome in this case.”

David also represents clients when challenging NHS continuing health care funding.

To find out more about J&P’s highly respected Private Client team and the elderly client services they offer, please call David directly on 020 8290 7348 or visit the elderly client services pages on our website.

With offices in Bromley and Chislehurst J&P is one of the leading Private Client solicitor’s practices in the South East, providing help and support when it is needed most, to customers in SE London, Kent, Surrey and Sussex.