land grab from pensioners - !! UK style

Thu Jul 12 14:36:27 BST 2012

Pay when you die solution for pensioners moving into care homes

Pensioners moving into nursing homes will be able 
to borrow money from the Government rather than 
having to sell their property to pay for care, 
under plans to be unveiled by ministers.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/elderhealth/9390844/Pay-when-you-die-solution-for-pensioners-moving-into-care-homes.html

By Robert Winnett, and Tim Ross

10:00PM BST 10 Jul 2012

Councils will lend money to nursing home 
residents and recover it after death from the 
proceeds of the persons house being sold.

The pay when you die scheme, to be introduced 
in 2015, is intended to stop up to 40,000 people 
each year being forced to sell their homes to pay for care.

A care home place costs an average of £26,000 a 
year and only those with limited assets have their bills paid by the state.

Andrew Lansley will publish the long-delayed 
social care White Paper on July 11th. He will 
confirm that key decisions on funding will be delayed until at least 2014.

Ministers want to cap the cost of care faced by 
an elderly or disabled person, but agreement has 
yet to be reached on how to pay for it.

In an article for the Daily Telegraph, the Health 
Secretary says: Our plans will end the scandal 
of people being forced to sell their home to pay 
for their care. From 2015, everyone will be able 
to get a loan instead of having to sell their home while they are alive.

But the Health Secretary adds: I recognise that 
we can go further. We can enable people not to 
lose everything they have worked and saved for if 
they need care for several years.

"That is why we agree in principle that a limit 
on the amount that people pay themselves for the 
long-term care they receive would be the right way forward.

He points out, however, that public finances are under pressure.

The deferred payment scheme for care homes was 
first proposed by a Royal Commission more than a 
decade ago. Since then, councils have been able 
to offer interest-free loans to people who face 
having to sell their home to pay for care.

But their availability varies significantly 
throughout the country. Most local authorities 
will only provide loans to those with few savings 
and, in the past year, about 8,500 have been offered.

The new scheme will order councils to provide the 
loans. They will be able to charge nominal 
interest  probably in line with inflation  so 
that it does not cost them money. The loans will 
be repaid after someone dies, either by selling 
their home or by the heirs re-mortgaging the property.

Details will be negotiated between the Government 
and local authorities in the coming months, and 
the level of interest payments is likely to prove crucial.

The social care proposals are billed by the 
Government as a watershed moment. There will 
also be initiatives for those caring for loved 
ones and powers to give people far more control 
over their own care. More people will be looked 
after in their own homes, where previously they 
would have been forced into nursing homes.

Ministers will find another £200 million to 
provide specialist housing for the elderly.

In the article, Mr Lansley also pledges to end 
the postcode lottery which faces people needing 
care. We will for the first time set out that 
people in need of care and support have minimum 
rights and standards that they can expect  
wherever they live, he says. So an older person 
can move closer to their loved ones with greater 
confidence that their care will continue.

The proposals are unlikely to assuage campaigners 
who are increasingly angered over delays to 
fundamental reforms of the care system. Research 
has found that most people are unaware that 
long-term care in residential homes, or through 
home-help services, is not free on the NHS.

Anyone with assets of more than £23,000 is 
required to pay for all their care costs 
themselves and one in 10 adults will have a 
lifetime bill of more than £100,000.

A year ago, Andrew Dilnot, an economist, 
recommended a £35,000 cap on what anyone would 
pay for long-term care. The state would meet any 
extra costs, and individuals would be encouraged 
to take out insurance or save to pay up to the 
level of the cap. Cross-party talks broke down last week.

Michelle Mitchell, of Age UK, said that without 
urgent reform, elderly people would be 
increasingly fearful and worried about their future.

Sir Merrick Cockell, chairman of the Local 
Government Association, said that council social 
services would need more money. There is an 
immediate crisis in social care, he said.

Pensioners are routinely treated like children, 
ignored in public and left standing on buses, a 
study of attitudes by the charity Friends of the 
Elderly found. Only one in five people believes 
Britain is a good place to grow old.

We want to hear about your experiences of adult 
social care in your area. How have you paid for 
it? Have you had value for money? Have you been a 
victim - or beneficiary - of a 'post code lottery'?
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