Dont bet the house on passing your lifetime's savings to the children
The high cost of caring for the elderly is forcing many people to sell off the family home. Sam Dunn looks at some alternatives.
17 May 2009
In many cases a lifetime's savings will end up in the clutches of a care home. And the "scattergun" approach from local authorities in explaining the choices will leave many no option but to sell a family home, age charities and specialist advisers warn.
Kicking off an Observer and Guardian series on ageing Britain, Cash unveils the labyrinthine and often costly path to shield a family's finances from serious damage.
"Too many people are being caught out by the cost of long-term care, and all they have is the home of a parent as the only asset which has to be sold. It becomes a crisis when they realise that it's all tied up in the home," says Alex Edmans, care funding adviser at Saga.
The bare facts are stark: if you live in England and have more than £23,000 (£22,000 in Wales) in so-called "capital", your local council will assess you as being able to meet the full cost of your care home (for exceptions see panel below). To calculate what counts as "capital", tot up all your savings, any investments and the value of your home.
Nearly four in 10 of the estimated 420,000 care-home residents or their families pay their own way because they fail the means test for local authority help, a recent report from Age Concern suggests. Also, the system has created a burgeoning resentment as the penalty is felt most by higher earners who save and invest over their working life, rather than by lower-income families, many of whom are unable to set aside any sizeable savings and therefore qualify for free care.
Penny Loveday, who lives in the London borough of Croydon, was forced to sell her parent's home to help pay fees for a care home in Folkestone, Kent, that looks after her mother, who has dementia.
"My parents were very careful with money throughout their life, and if either could see what's happening to their savings they'd be so furious. We just hope that all the family's inheritance isn't wiped out."
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1 comment:
Its true that caring for elders needs a lot of considerations and the demand for this service have been widely on demand. This is fact made impact in education for some country to be choosing a short term course instead of getting a degree. I found a related articles which may help in taking consideration for getting elder care service.
http://eldercareabcblog.com/want-to-know-more-about-elder-services/
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