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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/nov/22/the-truth-about-who-really-picks-up-the-tab-for-care-home-provision
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| Version 3 | Version 4 |
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| The truth about who really picks up the tab for care home provision | The truth about who really picks up the tab for care home provision |
| (11 days later) | |
| Your article (Soaring care home costs mean you now pay £34,000 a year, 18 November) fails to give an accurate account of the financial obligations of self-funders. This happens all too often across the media. Local authorities do not “pick up the tab” when a person’s assets fall to £23,250. In fact, LAs continue to take £1 per £250 on a sliding scale until a person’s assets reach £14,250. At this point a care home resident is allowed to hold on to the remaining sum. However, their contributions do not end there as a council will claw back any pensions, state or private, while also expecting families to pay top-up fees. My mother has severe dementia and has been in a nursing home for over four years and has paid over £250,000, having been compelled to sell her two-bedroom flat and use her savings. | Your article (Soaring care home costs mean you now pay £34,000 a year, 18 November) fails to give an accurate account of the financial obligations of self-funders. This happens all too often across the media. Local authorities do not “pick up the tab” when a person’s assets fall to £23,250. In fact, LAs continue to take £1 per £250 on a sliding scale until a person’s assets reach £14,250. At this point a care home resident is allowed to hold on to the remaining sum. However, their contributions do not end there as a council will claw back any pensions, state or private, while also expecting families to pay top-up fees. My mother has severe dementia and has been in a nursing home for over four years and has paid over £250,000, having been compelled to sell her two-bedroom flat and use her savings. |
| One of the major problems is the privatisation of care homes as there is no limit to what they can charge a self-funder when demand is so high. This inevitably means that a person’s resources diminish quickly and then the LA has to step in. A few years ago I became aware of newspaper advertisements around the world encouraginge people to invest in UK care homes as they’d be assured of a 8% return on their stake. Yes, there is a compelling need for a concrete plan on the future of social care, but it must re-examine the whole structure on which provision is founded. Our elderly must not be treated as mere commodities but with the dignity and fairness they deserve.Diane WallSidcup, Kent | One of the major problems is the privatisation of care homes as there is no limit to what they can charge a self-funder when demand is so high. This inevitably means that a person’s resources diminish quickly and then the LA has to step in. A few years ago I became aware of newspaper advertisements around the world encouraginge people to invest in UK care homes as they’d be assured of a 8% return on their stake. Yes, there is a compelling need for a concrete plan on the future of social care, but it must re-examine the whole structure on which provision is founded. Our elderly must not be treated as mere commodities but with the dignity and fairness they deserve.Diane WallSidcup, Kent |
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