Your support plan outlines the number of care hours you should receive weekly, whether at home, in one of our day centres, or through a direct payment.
We have established maximum charges for each service.
You will need to complete a Financial Assessment Form (FC2A) [LINK to financial assessment form web page], and based on this information, we will work out how much you should contribute.
Maximum charges
If you have savings over £23,250 you will have to pay the maximum charges for the services you receive.
The current charges are:
Home care
£16.64 per hour
Day care
The cost of attending day centres varies depending on the specific centre you go to and the level of support you require. Below are some examples of daily charges:
| Day centre | Cost per day |
|---|---|
| JMC (Jan Malinowski Centre) | £50.20 |
| Leyton Road | £36.00 |
| All Saints | £35.80 |
| Eastway | £37.80 |
Transport to Eastway day centre is charged at £2.70 per day.
Financial assessment form
When completing the financial assessment form for home or day care services, you will need to provide details of your savings, income, and expenses.
This information is used to calculate how much you can afford to contribute towards the cost of these community care services.
Savings
You will need to list all your savings, such as bank and building society accounts, and stocks and shares. If your total savings come to less than £14,250, we will not include them when working out your contribution.
Savings belonging to your partner will not be included in our assessment (savings in joint accounts will be halved).
We will not include the value of the home you live in when calculating your savings.
Income
We will ask you to list your income such as:
- State Retirement Pension
- Pension Credit
- private/occupational pensions
- Income Support
- Employment Support Allowance
- Universal Credit
- Attendance Allowance/Disability Living Allowance/Personal Independence Payment
- any other sources of income you may receive
Your husband's or wife’s income will not be included in our assessment.
We want to make sure that you receive all the benefits you are entitled to, so we offer a free benefit check when we carry out your assessment.
Expenses
We will make allowances for your bills and living expenses when calculating your contributions. The following expenses are considered:
- council tax
- rent/ground rent
- water rates
- mortgage/building insurance
- service/maintenance charges
- disability related expenditure (e.g. Mascot Telecare charges)
If you do not return a financial assessment form or you do not answer all the questions on it, you may be charged the full cost of your services.
Disability related expenses
Disability-related expenses are any expenses you incur due to your illness or disability, for example paying for a telecare alarm or paying for wheelchair insurance.
If you receive a disability benefit, such as Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance, and you tell us on the financial assessment form that you have disability related expenses, we will include a standard expense rate of £10 per week.
If you feel you spend more than this on expenses related to your disability, you will need to send proof of receipts from four weeks up to three months of these costs with the form. (We may ask for further evidence beyond this if needed.)
If you disagree with how much you are asked to pay
If you have questions or concerns about how your assessed contributions were calculated for your care, please contact us.
We will explain the outcome of your assessment and you can ask us to review your contribution if needed.
If you are still dissatisfied, you can make a formal complaint.
Contact us
Email: financial.assessment@merton.gov.uk
Telephone: 020 8545 3632