Why the Government will Never Fund Your Care
I am often faced with people who have worked hard all their life, gone without and saved hard and who now believe that their care should be fully funded by the state. They bought into the NHS when it was launched as a cradle to grave free service and feel that now they need it, it should be there.
Before we go further it is important to define what we mean by care. A government minister could claim that care is already funded through the Attendance Allowance benefit, and to a degree, they'd be right. Attendance allowance is £70.35 a week at the higher rate, and as most carers are underpaid, earning around the minimum wage, this would buy you around 10 hours of care a week. The state also funds the care in full for people who meet the NHS continuing healthcare criteria.
However, what most people regard as care is a stay in a care home and this is something rather different. Firstly it's much more expensive. The average cost of a residential care home in England is £475 a week, although many charge significantly more. In addition to your care you are also buying prepared food, accommodation, heating, lighting, laundry, entertainment and a host of other services, all of which you would have to pay for if you lived at home.
So why won't Government fund your care when ministers will talk about elderly care being a priority? It has nothing to do with a lack of money as the position was the same when money was plentiful.
The answer is 'inheritance'.
Funding care is a politically dangerous thing to do. If the state funds care for people who can afford to pay for it themselves, in reality all they are doing is using taxpayers money to fund an inheritance for the next generation.
I am no supporter of the current system. It peanalises those with lower value property disproportionately to those with higher value assets. It is highly regressive and grossly unfair.
Over the next few weeks we'll be looking at some ways that it could be improved but it is unlikely that the state will ever fully fund care, if you own your own property or have substantial savings.
How would you improve the current system. Enter the debate below....
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