The Sunday Times followed up the case of MP Peter Bone – accused of deliberately concealing his mother-in-law’s assets to avoid paying care home fee bills – with a report on the rules on financial contributions.
It said the rules are woolly and care law is conflicting, making it hard for people to know what they can legitimately do. Councils can challenge any ‘deliberate deprivation’ of assets that could be used to pay for care. In order to avoid such a challenge, experts said, assets have to be given away while the donor is in good health and has no need of care.