Families lumbered with £10,000 ‘stealth tax’ to subsidise care home costs of poor pensioners
Campaigners say it is unfair to those who put money aside for retirement having to fork out for those who did not save
FAMILIES forking out massive fees for their elderly relatives’ care homes are paying a £10,000-a-year “stealth tax” to subsidise those who can’t afford it, according to a new study.
Middle class families are hit hardest by extra charges for family members, while poorer residents rely on council funding for their places.
Campaigners slammed the findings, arguing it was unfair that those who put money aside for their retirement apparently had to pay for themselves as well as those who hadn’t saved anything.
Around 400,000 OAPs live in care homes in the UK, and just under half pay for themselves by using their savings or selling their homes.
Those with assets of more than £23,000 must “self-fund” - and pay average weekly bills of between £603 and £867, although that figure rises to £1,000 per week in the southeast.
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These fees are £200 dearer than the council pays for the same rooms for elderly residents with no savings - compared to just £40 per week price difference four years ago.
Over the course of a year, the extra fees work out at £10,000 each year.
Details of the report, by the charity Age UK, were revealed by the Times last night.
Editor of the Good Care Home Guard, Stephen Burke, told the paper the charges amounted to “a stealth tax on the middle classes that hides the full extent of the care crisis in this country”.
Councils are the biggest buyer of care home places and are said to negotiate bargains to pay less due to budget cuts - this means care homes charge paying families more to make up the shortfall.