Care home fees continue to be an issue that dominates the headlines and remain a particular concern to both the elderly and their families. First, there is the question of whether people who are rightly entitled to care home funding are getting that help. Last year, BBC Panorama aired a programme entitled “The NHS National Homes Swindle” which highlighted the fact that some NHS Trusts were misapplying the eligibility criteria and denying funding to those who should have been entitled to it.
Essentially, if your funding needs relate to one of a list of qualifying medical needs, then funding should be available whereas if the care is for social care then the funding needs to be paid for by the individual.
There does seem to have been greater clarity since the programme aired although, as a firm, our elderly client specialists are still dealing with cases where funding has been refused.
More recently, the Law Society has issued a report suggesting that increasing care home fees may mean that assets in wills will be wiped out, leaving nothing for the elderly to pass on to their beneficiaries. This comes hot on the heels of Government proposals to address the inevitable pressure on long term care as life expectancy increases. Last year, Age UK estimated average care home fees at £470 per week (1) which prompted the Law Society to warn that many wills may need reviewing as the assets of residents in care continue to deplete and they suggest that people should seek legal advice on these issues before it is too late.
This concern also followed a report that more that more than 20,000 pensioners had to sell their homes last year to pay for their care home fees – an increase of 17% in the past 5 years.
Darrell Collins, partner with FDC Law and member of the Solicitors for the Elderly, said, “Many people will consider it unfair that people have saved and lived carefully all their lives only to see their assets wiped out because of care home fees. Also, what many people do not realise is that consultation with a specialist solicitor in this area of law to ensure that you have the right will, can mean that such a situation does not arise in the first place. Anybody who is worried about care costs should contact a specialist solicitor so they can receive the best advice on what can be done to help.”
(1) Age UK’s figures were based on research by healthcare analysts, Laing & Buisson, and the House of Commons library.