The England and Wales High Court has stopped a local authority selling an elderly lady’s house to pay for her care fees, because her daughter kept a room in the house and had invested in maintaining it while living elsewhere.

This is from a report of the case from STEP:

“After a long correspondence the case eventually came to court in January. The court’s decision turned on the exact wording of paragraph 2(1)(b)(ii) of Schedule 4 of the National Assistance (Assessment of Resources) Regulations 1992 and whether Glen Walford’s relationship with Sunnydene fell within it. The relevant passage states that the value of any premises is to be disregarded for a residential care fees assessment if it is ‘occupied in whole or in part as their home by the resident’s other family member or relative who is aged 60 or over’. This test is further qualified by Section 7 of the CRAG [Charging for Residential Accommodation Guidance] rules.

Surprisingly, this is the first occasion that this particular issue has come before the courts. In the event, Mr Justice Supperstone, ruled that Worchestershire had applied the test incorrectly by looking at actual occupation or permanent residence at the time of Mary Walford’s admission into care. It had also not properly considered the submissions made by Glen Walford regarding her long-term relationship to the property, to which she ‘has a degree of attachment both physical and emotional’. He duly quashed the council’s decision to impose a charge on Sunnydene, and ordered it to reconsider its assessment.”

This decision is also important for us here in Scotland as similar rules apply.   Guidance on these rules from the Scottish Government can be found here.

More on this from STEP can be found here and the full case report can be found here.