Government Review of Care Home Fees

The review of care home fees is very topical in the media at present and something that is to be reviewed by the government, but such review and any possible amendment to the current system may take some time.

Gordon Brown has indicated that he wants to ‘free the elderly from the fear of losing their home’ and has acknowledged that the current system of means testing may be unfair to those who have saved throughout their lifetime.

England is currently very different to Scotland where care is free for all, the reason is that it would be too expensive to provide free care. Those in need of care are means tested and the home is generally taken into account.

It is proposed that there should be a six month public consultation, followed by a ‘green paper’ with detailed proposals, but any change to legislation is likely to take some time, and may come too late for some families who are currently facing care fees of £700 a week or more.

The current system where anyone with a home or savings worth £22,250 or more gets no help with care home fees is likely to be scrapped and replaced with one where everyone gets some government help. That is likely to be a basic contribution from the state towards the cost of care.

LCS are able to advise and assist clients with planning for the future