I have a question about financial assessments for the purposes of calculating personal budgets. I have a client (F) who is a partner in a farming partnership where all land is currently held within the partnership. He has MS and requires additional care although he continues to live at home and works directing the farming operations. A solar farm is to be built on part of the land and, although the plan is to put some sheep on the land too so there would still be some farming work needed, we are concerned that the income levels etc. would tip the business into a more “investment” type business than a “trading” one. We are therefore considering drawing the land out of the partnership into F’s name, or that of F and his wife, to secure BPR on the farming partnership.
However, I am concerned about the impact this may have on his entitlement to funding for his care. My understanding is that the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014 apply in this situation. From my reading of the legislation, under Regulation 14 earnings from self-employment are disregarded and paragraph 6 of Schedule 10 says that business assets of the self-employed are also to be disregarded which seems to encompass the land and his income from the partnership currently. I am wondering what the position would be if the solar park land was drawn out and either held personally by F, or put into a new partnership between F and his wife. F would still have to carry out some work on the land and I wonder whether the income he then derives would constitute “earnings derived as…a self-employed earner” in the legislation. Does anyone have any experience of this type of situation?