Understanding the latest OPG guidance on family care payments

Latest OPG guidance on family care payments: informal support, commercial rates, affordability, and evidence requirements.

Payments for support given to P by family and friends

No contract, done by way of natural love and affection for P, informal, no job description, no formal hours and no need for oversight by a case manager

Must be in P’s best interest

Paid at a commercial rate less 20% to reflect the fact no tax paid

Increases year on year, sensible if follow ASHE

Deputies can make the decisions to pay without court input unless there is a disagreement over the level of the payment or there is likely to be challenge by another family member

Requirements for making payments

To make the payments:

1. Care must be reasonably required – can rely on evidence from a care expert in litigation, case manager or social worker, if available.

2. Must be affordable.

3. Must properly reflect the input of the carer, so reflect the hours actually provided support, need to evidence how payment calculated.

Guidance on payment calculation

New guidance is given on how the payment is calculated depending on P’s circumstances:

1. If the estate is sufficient and the family provide most of the care, then the payment should be reasonable and affordable.

2. If the estate is sufficient and there is also a significant amount of professional care, then pay at a commercial rate less 20% to reflect no tax, the OPG will generally refer to the mean salary in the ASHE table as a benchmark for the commercial cost of care (evidence needs to be supplied to show why another rate has been used).

3. Where P’s estate is limited, payments must reflect what can be afforded.

Evidence of payment calculations

In all cases it is good practice to keep evidence showing how the payments have been calculated and to review this.

Payments are not taxable; it is a good idea though to keep HMRC informed of what is happening.

If you have any questions or we can assist, please contact any member of the Health and Care team 0114 267 5588.

You can also keep up to date by following Wrigleys Solicitors on LinkedIn.

The information in this article is necessarily of a general nature. The law stated is correct at the date (stated above) this article was first posted to our website.

Specific advice should be sought for specific situations. If you have any queries or need any legal advice please feel free to contact Wrigleys Solicitors.