Q My sister of 82 has been paying her care home fees of £2,500 a month out of her savings. Now these savings have reduced to £17,000 is there not some help available with the costs?

A Once savings go below £19,000, social services can help. If the home charges more than they are prepared to pay they will help with only part of the cost. They will only do this, however, if someone else, such as a relative, pays the difference. This is called "third party top-up" and you would do well to get advice about it from Help the Aged on Freephone 0500 76 74 76.

Q My sister went into a care home with savings of £50,000 seven years ago and now has only £700 left. I thought she was allowed to keep some savings. How can this have happened?

A My guess is that she is in an expensive home without the "third party top-up" mentioned in the last answer. If social services help with the cost, a person should have £11,750 savings left intact. Otherwise she could well have exhausted her savings. You should discuss this urgently with Social Services.

Q My 94-year-old father has a weekly pension income of £174. He gets Attendance Allowance but no one gets care allowance for looking after him. He thinks he has too much savings to qualify for rebates on his rent of £54.26 a week and council tax of £668 a year. Could he be right?

A Not necessarily. It would be worthwhile claiming if his savings were below £13,000. He could get help with rent alone even with savings of £16,000.

Q My wife and I each get Incapacity Benefit totalling £171.33 a week. We both get Disability Living Allowance as well. When I reach 60 in a few weeks can I get help with my rent of £49.30 a week and council tax of £14.42 a week?

A You get more help when you are 60, but you could be getting some now. Currently, your basic rent should be reduced to £35 a week and your council tax to £10.77. When you are 60 these go down to £14 and £4.30 respectively.