The 3-year cap

As part of the financial assessment under Fair Deal, you will contribute 7.5% of the value of certain assets each year towards the cost of your care for a maximum of 3 years.

This is known as the '3-year cap'.

These assets can include:

your home
the proceeds of the sale of your home
your farm or business

The 3-year cap applies whether you choose to take out a nursing home loan or not.

Your home

Your home will automatically be removed from your financial assessment after you have been in care for 3 years. You do not need to do anything.

If you sell your home while in care

If you sell your home while you are in care, the net proceeds of sale will also qualify for the 3-year cap.

You need to contact your local nursing homes support scheme office if you sell your home.

Farms and businesses

You need to apply if you want your farm or business to be included in the 3-year cap.

For your application to be successful you need to meet some conditions to avail of the 3-year cap if you own a farm or business.

These conditions include:

You must apply to us to appoint your family successor who will commit to running the farm or business for at least 6 years
Your farm or business must have been actively run by you, your partner or your proposed family successor for at least 3 of the last 5 years
A charge in favour of the HSE will be placed on the chargeable property of a business or farm

People with reduced capacity to make decisions

If a person is unable to apply themselves, certain people may apply on their behalf.

These people include:

a person appointed as a care representative (a person appointed by Circuit Court)
a committee for Ward of Court (a person appointed by Office of Ward of Courts)
a holder of a registered enduring power of attorney (chosen to act on behalf of another person)

A registered enduring power of attorney needs to be in place before the applicant becomes unable to make decisions.

Find out more about power of attorney and enduring power of attorney.

Appointing a family successor

You need to apply to us using the Fair Deal application form to appoint your family successor.

Your successor must be aged 18 or older and either your partner or your relative or your partner's relative.

A relative is either a:

child
grandchild
brother or step-brother
sister or step-sister
uncle
aunt
nephew or niece
son-in-law or daughter-in-law
parent or step-parent

How to appoint your successor

Complete part 7 of the Fair Deal application form.

You'll need to provide supporting documents, including signed statutory declarations (affidavits).

Apply to appoint your successor as soon as you can. This is so your successor can begin the 6-year period they must commit to running your farm or business. This commitment begins from the day that they are formally appointed by us. Your successor cannot be appointed until you are in care.

We’ll review your appointed successor to make sure that they comply with the conditions of the scheme. This review can be done at any time, over the 6 year period.

You can appeal any decisions that we make.

If you've legally transferred your farm or business to a family successor

You still need to apply to the HSE to appoint a family successor through the scheme.

Do this even if you have legally transferred your farm or business to your successor in the 5 years before your first application or at any time after your first application.

Farm or business must be actively worked

The farm or business must have been actively worked by either you, your partner or your family successor for at least 3 of the last 5 years.

This is up to the day in which you enter care.

You will need to provide proof of this.

You cannot be considered for the 3 year cap if you do not meet this condition.

Farm - how to prove your farm is actively worked

You must provide proof that your farm has been actively worked by you or your successor. This proof is usually an active Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine (DAFM) identifier.

DAFM identifiers we will accept are an active:

registered herd number with herd owner status for each year since the family successor was appointed. Herd keeper status is acceptable for the family successor
registered farm partnership number
poultry flock number with poultry flock owner status
sheep flock number
equine premises number (EPRN)
pig herd number with herd owner status
non-animal or cereal number
fishing vessel registration number included on the Registrar of Sea Fishing boats maintained by DAFM

We will accept this proof on a valid BPS application for the current scheme year or a copy of a herd test within the last year.

If you cannot provide one of the above, we may accept other proof that you or your successor are an active farmer.

You and your successor must also present 1 of the following:

BPS applications for all land that the relief is claimed under the same DAFM identifier - we will accept a declaration of the forestry parcels on a BPS application
a certificate of participation in a Bord Bia Quality Assurance Scheme
proof of membership in the Irish Grain Assurance Scheme
proof that you are producing and delivering milk to a registered milk purchaser
proof that you submit annual census data for all sheep, goats, pigs and equines kept
certified farm accounts and documents that show sales of horticultural produce
certified farm accounts and documentation of sales of hay and silage
a copy of the DAFM AIM system animal profile within the last year
any other documents that might be accepted as proof that you are an active farmer

We may need copies of the above documents for different years. We will let you know if this is the case.

Your documents must be for the same land or assets that you are applying for Fair Deal on.

Business - how to prove your business is actively worked

You or your family successor must provide proof that you have been actively working the business for at least 3 of the 5 years before you go into care.

Your family successor must also be able to provide proof over the coming 6 years that they are actively working the business. We may ask for this proof at any time.

You and your family successor will need to provide:

proof of registration of the business with the Revenue Commissioners
business registration documents or personal tax records showing that you, your partner or your family successor have been a director, employee, sole proprietor or partner of the business
personal tax records or bank statements showing an income paid to you, your partner or your family successor from the business

You should also provide 1 of the following:

evidence of a commercial transaction, bill or insurance policy, naming you, your partner or your family successor
a letter from an accountant or solicitor confirming that you, your partner or your family successor meet the terms of the Statutory Declaration
registration of a legal or professional body related to the business in either your name, your partner’s name or your family successors name

Registration of a legal or professional bodycan include:

registration with a professional body, such as a legal, accountancy or medical practice
food business registration with the HSE
auctioneer’s licence
waste brokers and dealers registration
publican’s licence
bookmaker’s licence
national Register of Tobacco Retailers

We may also accept any documents that prove that your family successor is actively working the business.

Charge on your farm or business

You must agree to us placing a charge in favour of the HSE on your farm or business. This must be agreed by you, your partner and any other owners of the farm or business.

A charge is a type of mortgage that will be placed on the property of your farm or business.

The charge will be removed once:

Your successor's commitment period of 6 years has ended.
All other conditions of the 3 year cap have been followed.

Information

You may need to repay money to us if your family successor does not comply with the conditions of the scheme.

You both need to sign a statutory declaration

You and your successor will both need to sign a separate statutory declaration form.

The declaration includes that:

your successor agrees to work your farm or business for at least 6 years
your farm or business asset has been actively worked for at least 3 of the 5 years before you entered care

Statutory declaration forms

Statutory Declaration that you will need to sign (PDF, 530KB, 3 pages)

Statutory Declaration for your Proposed Family Successor (PDF, 530kB, 2 pages)

You will need to sign a different statutory declaration form if:

People in care under Fair Deal before 20 October 2021

People in care under Fair Deal before the new law came into affect on 20 October 2021 can still apply for the 3 year cap under the old guidelines. You will need to do this by 20 April 2022.

We will contact you directly and tell you how to do this.

You cannot ‘backdate’ payments

You cannot ‘backdate’ payments or get a refund for any payments made before the 3-year cap.

For example, if you have spent 5 years in care, you may qualify for the 3-year cap. But this is only from the date we appoint your family successor.

You won’t be repaid any payments already made.

You can appeal any decisions that we make

If you sell your farm or business

If you sell your farm or business at any stage, the money from the sale will be assessed as part of your cash assets. This happens even if the 3-year cap has passed.

You must tell the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Office about any sale. You must do this within 10 working days of the date of the sale.

This is so we can carry out a new assessment of your weekly contribution.