Elderly Care Cost Limit Proposals Resulting from Dilnot

mrschaucer

Of course the house will still need to be sold, just "not in your lifetime" to quote Clegg's carefully spun sentence from yesterday. The more I read of these proposals the more I despair.

monkeyspanner

dhj wrote: »

Am I the only one confused by this? If the assumption is that I don't have to sell my house then where is the £74,999 going to come from to pay my care home fess before the government step in?

There is a bit of tricky political speak going on here. Apparently knowing there is a £75000 limit will allow us to set aside that amount in addition to managing to buy and pay for a property ( I am paraphrasing J.Hunt). I have not yet heard if the government is intending to force councils to enter into a deferred payment agreement which they do not have to at the moment.

In reality it is the relatives of the care home resident who are usually faced with the decisions about how they are going to arrange to fund care. This could mean renting the property to produce income, equity release schemes, mortgages, buying immediate care anuities or simply selling the property in order to fund the care. How many people are going to have £75000 and their home available to fund care.

The government have not tackled other problems and inequities for example why can councils pay the care home less for the same services than a self-funding resident. Yes of course it is because they have the buying power but should this be permitted?

Ken68

The elephant in the room is the cost of care.
Way too high. My local residential care home charge £800 a week.
For half that it ought to be easy to get a full time carer at home.

TableTop

I read something this morning which has me wondering about the headline £123,000 savings limit.

The implication is that this is a lower limit, and when your savings reach this level the govt pays. But is this just the trigger point when the govt start to contribute, on a sliding scale until savings are depleted to a lower limit (I believe £14K was mentioned).? Not read the 'real' proposals so far, only newspaper reports, so I'm interested to hear if anyone else has heard more definite info.

mumps

Ken68 wrote: »

The elephant in the room is the cost of care.
Way too high. My local residential care home charge £800 a week.
For half that it ought to be easy to get a full time carer at home.

24/7 for £400 a week? Really? I recruit care staff, can you let me know where you get them from.

Errata

Ken68 wrote: »

The elephant in the room is the cost of care.
Way too high. My local residential care home charge £800 a week.
For half that it ought to be easy to get a full time carer at home.

Only in your dreams, I'm afraid.

Mojisola

Ken68 wrote: »

The elephant in the room is the cost of care.
Way too high. My local residential care home charge £800 a week.
For half that it ought to be easy to get a full time carer at home.

I looked into live-in care for my parents. The starting costs were £850 for someone who needed little more than a companion. Once there were care needs, the price quickly went up in stages to £1000+.

Ken68

With all the unemployment, and cut backs in the NHS , there should be plenty of people offering their services. Doesn't have to be with a care company and doesn't have to be all night or live in.
Obviously the care homes would cater for those needing full time care, but plenty of scope, I would have thought for an out of work nurse to take on two or three patients in their own homes.
It should be made easy for them.

Mojisola

Ken68 wrote: »

With all the unemployment, and cut backs in the NHS , there should be plenty of people offering their services. Doesn't have to be with a care company and doesn't have to be all night or live in.

An elderly or disabled person in need of care can be very vulnerable. Most people would be very wary of employing someone to care for an elderly parent without being able to check them out. Going through a company does give some protection.

Obviously the care homes would cater for those needing full time care, but plenty of scope, I would have thought for an out of work nurse to take on two or three patients in their own homes.
It should be made easy for them.

Regulated "granny minders" instead of child minding!

My parents would have enjoyed this a couple of times a week. Dad did go to an AgeUK centre but there were about 20 people there. A smaller group in someone's house would have been more like meeting up with friends.

Savvy_Sue

Ken68 wrote: »

My local residential care home charge £800 a week.
For half that it ought to be easy to get a full time carer at home.

Only if the full-time carer is a member of the family ... even for just daytime care you'd never get a paid carer for £800 pw, let alone half that!

Ken68 wrote: »

With all the unemployment, and cut backs in the NHS , there should be plenty of people offering their services. Doesn't have to be with a care company and doesn't have to be all night or live in.

You are not comparing like with like. The residential care home is offering staff cover 24/7, and hopefully more than one person available 24/7. Yes, there are economies of scale, but running a residential care home isn't the licence to print money you seem to think.

If it were, why are so many closing down?

If 'all' you need is some daytime assistance then of course you can get it cheaper than £800 per week, but on NMW (which you would have to pay if you were employing someone direct) you're not going to get much more than 25 hours per week.

Ken68 wrote: »

Obviously the care homes would cater for those needing full time care, but plenty of scope, I would have thought for an out of work nurse to take on two or three patients in their own homes.
It should be made easy for them.

Well, personally I think the complexities of employing someone direct, carrying out the necessary checks and running payroll, PLUS getting cover for their holidays and any sickness, make an agency look useful ...

although I'm hoping I never need to find out!