🧩 Basic rule: the allowance remains – but…

Your entitlement to the care allowance does not automatically expire when staying in a residential facility.
However, the recipient of the benefit changes.

🔹 If the senior is living at home:

→ the allowance is paid to them or to the person providing the care.

🔹 If the senior is in a residential care home:

→ the allowance is usually paid to the facility providing the care.

So the allowance doesn’t vanish, but is redirected to cover the cost of care in the facility.

🏡 What qualifies as a residential facility?

What matters is whether the place is a registered provider of social services with daily care. For example:

• Retirement homes

• Special regime homes

• Homes for persons with disabilities

In contrast, home care, support services or day centres are not considered residential, so the allowance can stay with the family.

❗ When does payment change?

The law says:

“If a person receives residential social services for at least 4 hours a day, the care allowance is paid to the service provider.”

That means the facility automatically becomes the recipient if the care meets this threshold. The family can no longer decide how the benefit is spent.

💬 Lawyer’s advice

📍 Before entering a facility, find out whether payment redirection applies.
📍 Talk to the care provider about how the benefit will be used.
📍 If the care doesn’t involve full-day assistance or is supplementary, it may be possible to claim the allowance for the family – but proper evidence is required.

From experience, many families lose the opportunity to manage the allowance simply because they fail to deal with the legal consequences in time.