How to plan your care in advance

Planning care in advance can be tricky as you’re unlikely to know what sort of care you’ll need, when you’ll need it or how long for.

Unfortunately, we can’t know what the future will bring, and there may come a time when you urgently need care or no longer have the mental capacity to organise it yourself.

There are things you can do in advance to prepare a time when you might need care, whether that be in old age or in the event of an accident or sudden illness.

This can help to ensure that you retain control over your care. You might also choose to plan your care in advance to help your spouse or children later down the line.  Age UK found that in 2023, there were 3.3 million people in the UK aged 40-60 caring for a parent, 60% of whom weren’t aware of how hard it would be, although 72% were glad to be able to give something back.

Make a folder to organise future care

In order to make your plans for your future care clear and accessible to your loved ones or any professionals involved, you may wish to organise everything into one place. It’s a good idea to have a physical copy and a digital copy, in case one or the other gets lost or destroyed.

Here you can clearly label what’s what and what to do in certain circumstances.

In planning your care in advance, include:

• Readable information that explains what you have organised and what your loved ones need to do in the event that you are unable to explain it to them at the time.
• Copies of any relevant documents with an explanation of what they mean, because legal speak can be complicated.
• Contact details of people involved in your plans, such as your solicitor, financial advisor, your appointed attorney, care or medical professionals or any relevant contacts from your local authority if you’ve already had a care needs assessment.

Tell trusted people where this folder is.

Make decisions about your future care

While you probably won’t be able to anticipate exactly what types of care you’ll need in the future, you can start exploring your preferences for how your care will be provided.

Make a shortlist of care homes

It’s also possible that by the time you actually need this list, one or more of your care home choices will have closed down or changed management.

There are also some decisions that you can make in advance that are legally binding, as follows.

Make an advance statement when planning your future care

An advance statement is a document in which you express your preferences if the time comes when you need care and support.

It is not a legally binding document but should be taken into account by people who are making decisions on your behalf in the future, including loved ones and relevant professionals.

Things you can include in your advance statement include:

• Whether you’d prefer to move into a care home or receive home care.
• Preferences about your day to day living, in case you are ever unable to express them yourself. These are things such as religious or dietary preferences, your preferred morning or bedtime routine, grooming choices (such as if you like to be clean shaven or have a beard) or your hobbies and pastimes.

You can write an advance statement yourself and put it with your other care-related documents.

Make a living will (also known as advance decision)

A living will is a document in which you make the decision to refuse certain medical treatments in advance of needing them. It is legally binding in England and Wales, but not in Scotland or Northern Ireland. Learn more about the legalities of a living will here.

This is in case you are unable to make the decision later down the line; for example, if you lost mental capacity or the ability to communicate.

Examples of decisions that you could make in a living will include:

• CPR
• Life sustaining treatments
• Staying on a life support machine
• Chemotherapy
• Antibiotics

You can change your living will if you change your mind about something.

Appoint a power of attorney

A power of attorney is somebody you appoint to make certain decisions for you, should you ever lose the mental capacity to do so yourself.

A power of attorney can be appointed for decisions around your property and finances, and/or your health and welfare.

Can my attorney override my living will, advance statement or advance decision?

If you wish to make a living will and have a Power of Attorney, whichever you have made the most recently take precedence over the other.

You may want to take this into account if there are certain matters that are non-negotiable for you, and you don’t want you attorney to have the power to go against your decision.

Remember that living wills only cover decisions about your healthcare, so only a Power of Attorney for Health and Welfare could have a say in that anyway.

Organise your finances

A big factor to consider when you organise future care is how your care will be funded.

You can’t know exactly how much your care will cost because you don’t know when you’ll need it, what the prices will be then or what your needs will be.

What you can do is familiarise yourself with care home funding and financial means tests (which is how your local authority assesses whether you are eligible for funding), and decide what you’d like to happen to your home in the event you move into a care home.

This may be selling your home, renting it out so as to generate income but not lose the asset, or releasing equity from it. There is further advice on joint assets here.

If you are considering gifting your home or capital to your children or another loved one in order to reduce your wealth and qualify for local authority funding, be wary as this will likely be seen as deliberate deprivation of assets.

The seven-year rule

If you choose to gift a large amount of money or a large asset to a loved one, you will likely come across the seven-year rule. There can be some confusion around this and what it applies to; you may hear that it’s a myth but in fact this is only partly true.

When the seven- year rule is true: Inheritance tax

If you want to make a large gift to a loved one, you will be subject to the seven-year rule. This means that your gift will be taxed if you die within seven years of giving it.

You can give up to £3000 per year in gifts tax free. If you want to give a gift over this amount, you will need to live at least seven years from when you gift it to avoid tax.

If you gift a home, but still live in it, this is considered a ‘gift with reservation’, which has different rules.

When the seven-year rule is a myth: Deprivation of assets

When you are in need of professional care, your local authority will conduct a financial means test to determine if you are eligible for funding or if you will have to pay for your care yourself.

Giving away your capital and assets (such as to your children) in order to qualify for funding is called deprivation of assets. Your local authority can still take these assets into account if they consider it deliberate, however long ago you gifted them.

Get financial advice

A professional financial advisor can give you through advice that takes into account your individual circumstances. While they can be expensive, their advice may save you a lot of money.

Paying for Care has a directory to find a financial advisor close to you.