Overseas

Overseas residents with dependents in the UK needing care

If you are based overseas and you need to find care for a family member or other dependent who lives in the UK, it is particularly difficult to know how best to progress.

A reassuring factor is that the United Kingdom has good standards of care provision and Government Welfare departments have well laid out procedures to implement care. Overseas relatives should be confident that infrastructure is in place to provide ready access to an individual's care needs.

However, typical issues still arising might be:

How do I know what level of care my relative needs?
How do I find out the rules and regulations regarding care in the UK?
How can I find the care providers in the UK that will be most suitable for my relative?
What are my relative's statutory rights and entitlements?
To what extent should the State be paying for my relative's care?
If I or my relative has to fund the care, what is the best way of doing this?
How can I monitor the care provider I choose and ensure that the care provided remains relevant and the best available?

Solutions

There are two main sources of help for an overseas relative in this position:

An Independent Care Adviser. Independent Care Advisers will provide the overseas relative with help and advice covering all of the issues raised above and will help find the most suitable care providers matching the UK dependent's care needs and personal wishes. The Independent Care Adviser can also provide a sympathetic line of communication between the relative and the overseas family member and advise on suitable Financial Advisers where appropriate. Independent Care Advisers charge a fee for their services.
Charitable Organisations. These bodies provide a significant level of assistance. They can be difficult to co-ordinate where more than one is involved and the help they provide will be restricted.

If you are a UK national living overseas wishing to return to the UK to receive care

A number of nationals of the United Kingdom choose to move overseas when they retire. It is often the case that the countries that they retire to do not provide funded care in old age or that people in due course simply prefer to return to the UK to be nearer their families. In these situations, people often return to the UK and need care.

In these situations, the process differs depending on whether the care is to be funded privately or by Social Services.

If care is to be funded privately

Most of the information in these circumstances can be found on the various pages of this site. The complicating factor in this instance will be the difficulty of finding and viewing appropriate care providers due to the individual's distant location. The two solutions are:

Use a UK-based family member or associate to research and visit care providers to help select a provider matching the needs and wishes of the overseas resident
Use an Independent Care Adviser to carry out the research and assist in the selection of a suitable care provider

If care is to be funded by Social Services

In these circumstances, the situation is slightly more complicated because Social Services will only carry out assessments inside the UK. The overseas resident as a first step needs to return to the UK so that a Social Worker can carry out the appropriate assessments. The standard process then flows.

The overseas resident will therefore need to find somewhere to stay in the UK as a temporary measure, such as with a relative or friend or in a care home on a privately funded short-stay basis.

However, in all of these cases, as each person's situation is unique, it is always advisable to discuss individual circumstances with an expert Independent Care Adviser.

UK nationals who wish to receive care overseas

Increasingly, UK residents (and UK nationals already living abroad) are looking overseas for respite care, convalescent care, short-term breaks with care and retirement and long-term care.

As long as UK nationals comply with entry regulations in these overseas locations, this can often be an attractive proposition if good care facilities are combined with the benefits that are generally associated with warmer climates. Freedom of movement within Europe, for example, has led to Europe becoming an increasingly popular destination for short-term and long-term care.

As an example of the sort of facilities that are available, The Care Directory's pages list a number of facilities in Spain (Care Providers in Spain) that are appropriate for respite care in Spain, convalescent stays in Spain, short-term breaks with care in Spain and care in care homes and care homes with nursing in Spain.

As always, when contemplating such a move, as each person's situation is unique, it is always advisable to discuss individual circumstances with an expert Independent Care Adviser.

If you require further assistance or would like to speak to the Independent Care Adviser this site recommends please call 0800 137 669.