by Andrew Dixson-Smith
“Political parties need to be clear on plans for social care funding”
The potential cost of ‘later life care’ is a big and recurring concern for many to whom we speak: ‘How can we stop everything being swallowed up by care fees? There’ll be nothing left to leave anyone!’ There are various schemes which offer to put your worldly goods in trust, so that you can, if assessed, qualify for local authority help. Of which, sadly, even if you’re really or on-paper penniless, there is very little. Which is why hospital beds are full of those who could be looked after at home or in a good, old-fashioned nursing home, were any carers or help available. It’s only going to get worse, we and they all know that. But nursery and child care is more likely to get workers working and voters voting and so the bigger problem is kicked, once again, into that proverbial long grass.
THE COST OF CARING FOREWORD – The Just Group PLC’s Care Report 2023 say’s:
“For more than a decade we have gathered information on the knowledge and thoughts of the over-45s about adult social care.
Every year thousands of people go through the experience of organising care for an ageing parent, in-law or partner. They tell us it was a stressful process and their answers paint a picture of high levels of cost and complexity with low levels of support.
Very few agreed that later life care provision is “fit for purpose”. That view is echoed by other research across the broader care sector. Figures produced by Nuffield Trust and The King’s Fund1 show that two-thirds of people who had used or had contact with social care, either for themselves or someone else, were dissatisfied with it – with those aged 65+ and those on higher incomes most dissatisfied.
Of our in-depth research series that sheds light on how the over-45s think and feel about adult social care. Autumn 2023 was supposed to see the beginning of a new era in care funding after a decade of false starts. A “once in a generation transformation” was promised that was set to include the introduction in England of a cap on care costs and more generous means-test limits.
Instead, we once again find ourselves in limbo with the reforms pushed back until at least 2025, after the next General Election. The momentum has been lost and many question whether the plans in their current form will ever see the light of day.
When it comes to later life care, there are no life jackets and no sign of any rescue party. And our Care Report shows what that means.
There is a damning indictment of the current system by those who have experience of organising care for a family member, who feel the system is hard to navigate, provides too little support, costs too much and is generally seen as unfit for purpose.
Most people are responsible and will plan for later life through pensions, life insurance, wills and estate planning. Yet the typical response from most to the possibility of needing to fund future care is to bury their heads in the sand. Perhaps that’s not surprising given the widespread lack of knowledge and confusion about how the care system works and where the funding comes from. The inevitable results of not planning are poorer outcomes for those needing care and for those providing care.
There is one beacon of hope – professional financial advice. Those who had helped find care for a loved one with the help of a financial adviser were nearly four times as likely to have gone on to make their own care plan compared to those where no adviser was involved. Although most of us say we would prefer to receive care in our own home, government figures show that fewer than one in 10 homes in England meet the criteria for being ‘accessible’.
Our focus on homes in later life also reveals the role advisers play challenging their clients’ retirement thinking. Most advisers do question their intentions to stay in their current home through retirement and how suitable it would be if care were needed.
We seem to be at a point where long-awaited funding reform has once again stalled. With an election looming, perhaps it is seen as a vote-loser rather than a vote-winner. But with the system creaking at the seams, it is high time policymakers seized the initiative” Just Group plc.
Given the reference the report makes to help from a financial adviser, we would welcome the opportunity to discuss the funding options for paying for care fees whether at one’s own home or in a residential/nursing home. There are plans that can potentially guarantee to typically pay the gap between the cost of care and income for the rest of life tax free and index linked.
