Health and Social Care Minister, Lawrie Hooper, has said that there appears to be a failing in the system when it comes to informing social security that an individual engaged with the social care system is transferred into a nursing home.

He was asked on the matter in the House of Keys this week.

Mr Hooper said: ‘If an individual has capacity, they will be responsible to make these enquiries themselves.

‘If the individual lacks capacity in respect of their care and accommodation or finances, it will be the responsibility of whoever has applied to be appointed to manage their financial affairs.’

He said that Noble’s Hospital advise social security of all admissions that can affect social security payments such as benefits or pensions, dependant on the length of stay.

Nursing homes also advise social security due to the eligibility for nursing care allowance, he said.

Mr Hooper added: ‘If there is a social worker involved, they would be able to assist an individual in contacting social security for support with a claim for benefits in order to meet their fees, and often will assist people with claim forms.

‘Social workers generally have a good working knowledge of our benefit system and so often provide advice on what benefits may be available to individuals and can support individuals with the completion of necessary forms. However, I’m advised social workers are not able to make the applications on behalf of an individual nor can social workers provide advice in respect of benefits other than in general terms, as of their own experiences and working knowledge.’

But Claire Christian, Douglas South MHK, said that she had a constituent who was committed to a care home in November, and a mock assessment was done at the end of the month, but her constituent passed away in December, where there was not enough time for forms to be filled out for capacity to be completed, and there was no time for a family member or friend to do that.

Mr Hooper said that there was a similar experience in his constituency.

He said: ‘There does appear to be a gap in the system, where if an individual suddenly lacks capacity and there is no one who has been appointed to manage their affairs, Social Security still requires a claim form to be submitted, and that is where there appears to be a failing in the system at present.

He has been working on this for a number of months, he says.

‘There is a gap in that process between the notification and the completion of the claim form being submitted, so whilst on the Department of Health and Social Care side we can definitely inform Social Security and support individuals, the actual acts of then making that claim and the processing of said claim falls on the Treasury side.

‘In this particular case there are legislative barriers, my understanding is the way the law works is part of the issue.

‘In order to deal with these rare occasions where someone fails to have capacity in a short space of time, as has happened in this instance, there is a particular gap, but I think it is a legislative issue rather than a policy question, so it may involve the law being changed.’

He said it is an ongoing conversation with Treasury to figure out what the best solution to the problem is.