A WORCESTERSHIRE firm of accountants has protected the investments of one of its clients in a dispute over care funding.

McCarthy-Taylor of High Street, Evesham, was approached by Derrick Blake whose 87-year-old mother was in a care home but her health deteriorated to the point where she needed to have nursing care.

This ultimately led to an increase in the cost of her care funding.

Gloucestershire County Council asked Mr Blake to provide a list of her assets and income so they could establish what level of contribution they would make towards the costs.

Mr Blake included in his list an investment bond which McCarthy Taylor had set up for his mother in 2004.

It comprised the majority of Mrs Blake’s assets.

Mr Blake asked McCarthy Taylor to see if they could arrange withdrawals from the bond in order to fund the additional costs of the care, because the council had taken the bond into consideration for the fees they were willing to pay.

McCarthy Taylor was able to point out to Mr Blake that investment bonds such as the one his mother held could not be taken into consideration for care costs, as laid down in CRAG (charging for residential accommodation guide) and provided an article from Care- Aware to back this up.

The council did not believe Mrs Blake’s bond fell under the guidelines for exemption and acting on her behalf, McCarthy Taylor quoted the exact wording from the CRAG, enclosed the part of the policy document which confirmed that the bond had been set up and therefore exempt.

It turned out to be a successful challenge and the council has now agreed that the bond was exempt from being included as part of Mrs Blake’s assessment.

Paul Taylor, managing director at McCarthy Taylor said: “It is becoming more important to consider the possible payment of care fees when planning your future finances.

“It is advisable to seek advice early and look at ways of protecting your investments and making sure that you receive the funding from the Government that you are entitled to for long term care.

“Once it becomes apparent a person needs long term care it is too late. The time to protect assets in this way is to take appropriate advice from specialists on setting up the investment.”