Meeting the cost of elderly care is fast becoming a huge and growing issue in the UK. As life expectancy continues to lengthen, more of us can expect to require some form of care in our later years.
The average cost of residential care in Yorkshire is around £30,000 a year and nursing care £38,000 a year. Whilst these costs are considered to be the norm, it is not uncommon to find care homes charging their residents well over £1,000 per week. Very few people have this level of income naturally available to them and instead find themselves having to utilise hard earned savings and even their home to pay for their care.
So what can people do to address this issue? We asked local Later Life financial expert John Varley of Flying Colours to comment. “The most important thing is to seek professional advice and from someone who is an expert on the subject. There is a lot of free information available via the internet and through a variety of other sources all of which is very helpful, but when it comes to the big question of ‘so what’s the best thing for me to do?’ that’s where seeking the help of an experienced and professionally qualified care fees expert can really make the difference.”
Mr Varley goes on to say, “the subject of how we provide and pay for elderly care as a nation has been receiving increased political and media attention, but recent announcements by the government suggest that any significant changes will take years to implement if at all. In the meantime, an increasing number of elderly people will continue to have to self-fund their care from their own resources and whilst this may be fine over the short term, what happens when people start to run out of money?
Here are ten things recommended by Mr Varley that may just help to reduce the stress;
- Seek professional financial advice from a care fees specialist. The Society of Later Life Advisers have a UK wide directory of accredited advisers. This can save you a lot of time and heartache, visit www.societyoflaterlifeadvisers.co.uk
- Don’t just choose the first adviser on the list because they are closest to you. Far more important is to make sure that he or she is fully independent and not restricted. Most independent advisers are willing to travel to meet with you and will offer an initial no obligation consultation, held at their own expense, so give them a call to find out how they operate.
- Unless money truly is no object, make sure you engage your local adult social services team to carry out a community care assessment. This will allow you to move into care safe in the knowledge that if you do ever run out of money, you will receive support from the state.
- In choosing a care home, always make sure that you have a conversation up front with the owners/manager to find out what their policy is in the event of you running out of money. It is far better to have this understanding in advance, than to find out later that you will need to move to another care home.
- When choosing a care home it’s not a bad idea to turn up without an appointment. This shouldn’t be a problem to a well run and managed care home with adequate staffing resources, as the person in charge should always have the time to welcome you.
- Don’t just ask what their current charges are, but also what has been their approach to increasing their charges? On average, care homes increase their fees annually by around 5% and this will need to be factored in.
- Make sure you are claiming all of the state benefits you are entitled to. A specialist care fees adviser can help you with this.
- Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you have to use your partners/spouses money to pay for your own care. You can only be assessed on the income and savings in your own name, not your total combined income and savings. Again a specialist care fees adviser will be able to advise on which of your assets/income will need to be included and which can be disregarded.
- Don’t make any gifts of your savings or capital without first taking professional advice from a specialist care fees adviser. Trying to avoid having to pay for your care in this way is classed as ‘deliberate asset deprivation’ and is likely to lead to major problems.
- Finally, make sure that your Will is up to date and reflects your wishes. Also someone should be appointed to hold power of attorney for you. There are two types (financial matters and health & welfare). Both types are equally important. Again a good quality care fees adviser will be able to guide you on the best way to review or arrange Wills and Lasting Power of Attorney.
