Frequently Asked Questions

Not definitely, though we do all that we can to help every enquiry. The person being considered for residential care must own a home which is not also occupied by anyone else, such as a spouse or relative, and our care partner My Care My Home must confirm following a consultation that residential care is likely to be required and that the CHIP® would be appropriate. If this is all in order, then My Care My Home will assess the individual in question for Care Needs, and we will prepare a CHIP® financial plan for you to consider.

Unfortunately not. The CHIP® financial model depends on the home of the person moving into residential care being available for us to lease and let out to tenants to generate income to meet the cost of care.

In the CHIP® agreement, the house always belongs to its original owner and, on their eventual death, becomes an asset of their estate. It never at any point belongs to us. In order to pay for care, the CHIP® essentially agrees a lease with you under which we take over the house (nominally for 99 years but in reality only for long enough to cover all care, admin and initial property upgrading costs. This is generally around 12-15 years.) If a person living in care passes away, we review our cost outlay. You may then either leave the house with us under the lease for long enough for us to recoup our costs, or you may buy out the lease at the ‘Lease Break’ fee we have advised, after which we will have no further involvement and the home will be yours to sell or pass on.

No. The CHIP® will pay the agreed monthly amount for as long as needed. Shaw Lifetime Care Limited will do this for the first 36 months, after which the Shaw Foundation, our exempt charity parent organisation, will take over responsibility for the remainder of the life of the individual concerned, no matter how long that may be.

If you wish to. When a person living in care passes away, we review our cost outlay. You may either leave the house with us under the lease for long enough for us to recoup our costs, or you may buy out the lease at the ‘Lease Break’ fee we have advised, after which we will have no further involvement and the home will be yours to sell or pass on.

No, My Lifetime Care was set up to administer the Care and Home Inheritance Plan. We are wholly owned by The Shaw Foundation, which is an exempt charity under the terms of the Charities act 2011.

No. A DPA (Deferred Payment Agreement) is an agreement with a Local Authority that they will pay the cost of residential care (which may be in a home on a list selected by them) as it goes along, with the total cost, plus interest, being recouped following the death of the individual in question from the sale of the home. There is a legal requirement for Local Authorities in England and Wales to offer this agreement, providing the individual has assets other than the home below £23,250 in England or £50,000 in Wales.

The CHIP®, in contrast, is a private agreement between the person entering care, or their Power of Attorney, and Shaw Lifetime Care Limited. The CHIP® guarantees to meet the cost of care for as long as needed, funding this from income raised by letting out the home, which is leased to Shaw Lifetime Care Limited. 

Ownership of the home remains always with the person in care, on their death forming a part of their estate.

You do. Once you have decided on the home you would like to use, we will prepare the CHIP® calculations so that the fees of that specific home are made affordable for you.

The CHIP® pays the agreed contribution of the care home cost each month after the state pension and any work pensions payable to the individual in care have been deducted from the total cost. The pension/s element must be paid directly to the care home by the individual in care or their family.

We are owned by an exempt charity which is bound by FCA Regulation (Registered Number: 25164R). The home that you lease to us remains owned by you at all times. 

If something unforeseen were to happen that resulted in us failing to make even one payment as agreed to the care home you are using, we would be in breach of the lease we had signed with you. In this situation, we would seek to rectify the position. Failure to do so would require us to surrender all our rights under the lease, and you would immediately regain complete control of your property. But again, remember, ownership of the property would in any case have been with you at all times.