Burnham’s Reforms Could Cut Care Home Bills by Only £3 a Week

Andy Burnham’s plan for a ‘free’ National Care Service could save families just £3 a week on care home bills, analysis suggests. The Telegraph has the story.

The Prime Minister has promised a system that would be free at the point of use and protect people’s homes and savings by helping to pay for care home costs.

Officials are examining Scotland’s model, under which the state provides a £260-a-week “personal care” payment for help washing and dressing for those in residential care. Residents still face bills for bed and board.

A Telegraph investigation has revealed that someone with dementia paying for residential care could face almost identical bills of around £70,000 a year – regardless of whether they are in Scotland or England.

Analysis shows that Scottish care home fees, including personal care as well as accommodation and other costs, are typically £257 a week higher than in England.

If this were mirrored in England, it would almost entirely cancel out the weekly state payments of £260 for “personal care”, leaving families just £3 a week better off.

Experts say Scottish care homes charge more than in England because £260 is insufficient to cover the actual cost of personal care, leading to inflated residential fees.

As a result, families remain exposed to substantial costs and the prospect of selling their homes to meet the bills.

It costs £1,603 a week for an elderly woman with dementia, who has savings above the means-testing thresholds, to move into a Scottish care home.

Deducting the state’s £260.30 personal care payment leaves her paying £1,342.70 a week, or £69,820 over a year.

In England, the published average for residential dementia care is £1,346 a week, or £69,992 a year. This equates to a difference of just £172 a year, or £3.31 a week.

Experts warned that unless the Government prevented charges for bed and board from swallowing up the savings from free care, the reforms would risk amounting to a “care con”.

Worth reading in full.