Retrospective eligibility
To claim retrospective eligibility, we need to show that an individual’s health and nursing care needs were more than what a social services department could provide.
If that’s the case, then their primary need would be for health and they would have been entitled to full NHS funding. In England we can consider unassessed period of care from April 2012 and in Wales a claim can be no longer than 12 months from the date an application is made. A claim can still be made if the person in care has since died.
What’s the process for making a nursing care claim?
The process will depend on a number of factors, such as whether you are starting your claim from scratch or if you are coming to us to appeal a negative decision; whether you are claiming on behalf of a loved one who has since passed away or has just moved into long-term care.
If you believe that you or a family member has wrongly paid care fees, then the first step is to complete our questionnaire. This will be assessed by our Nursing Care legal team who will be able to advise on whether or not you have a case, and if so, what the process will be. This initial questionnaire is free to complete and there is no obligation on you to proceed with a claim should you decide not to.
Our fees
We understand that instructing a solicitor may be daunting, but unlike advocacy firms, as solicitors we must be open and transparent about our costs. There cannot be any hidden charges.
Following a free initial assessment of your case, we offer a number of funding.
In most cases our clients are offered the choice of a ‘no win no fee’ Contingency Fee Agreement and an hourly rate basis. The Contingency Fee Agreement is popular with our clients as it provides certainty; they know exactly what we will charge if we win the case and it makes no difference how much time we spend pursuing the claim to a successful conclusion. In addition, there is peace of mind that if we pursue the claim and we lose, you do not pay us anything.
Why choose us?
We believe we are one of the leading national experts in the recovery of wrongly paid care home fees. Here are just some of the reasons why our clients choose to work with us:
- We have recovered over £250 million in wrongly paid nursing home fees since the department was set up in 2006.
- Our success and client stories are regularly featured in the press as we are recognised as leading the way in reclaiming wrongly paid care home fees. This includes The One Show, Dispatches, ITV News, The Telegraph, The Sunday Times and The Mirror.
- We work in partnership with many of the leading older peoples’ charities, helping us to ensure our service meets the needs of the people we, and the charities, represent.
- Unlike many other companies who focus on reclaiming wrongly paid care fees, we are a firm of solicitors regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) and comply with the solicitors’ code of conduct.
- The Hugh James Nursing Care team is the leading and most experienced team in the niche area of continuing healthcare, giving you complete peace of mind that your case is being dealt with by fully qualified lawyers who specialise in reclaiming nursing and care home fees.
- The team is also one of the biggest teams focusing exclusively on this area in the UK with over 40 dedicated lawyers.
- We promise to deal with your claim from start to finish and will not pass your claim on to a third party. We offer a complete service for you with dedicated team members to contact.
- Head of the team, Lisa Morgan, won the highly acclaimed Law Society Junior Lawyer of the Year 2010 Excellence Award due to her work in this area. She was also recently awarded the Cardiff University Simon Mumford award. In 2017, the department was highly commended at the Age Cymru Awards in the large business category for its commitment to helping older people.
