14 OAPs every day sell homes to fund care

FOURTEEN pensioners a day face a financial wipeout after being forced to sell their homes and use their life savings to pay for care, a report has revealed.

These “self-funders”, who pick up the tab for their own care because they have assets of more than £23,250, have spent £7.3billion in the past year alone.

In England, 167,000 older people and their families are estimated to fund their own care because they do not qualify for free or subsidised support.

Some 5,190 people aged 65-plus and receiving care in England in 2018-19 were “self-funders with depleted funds” – meaning they used up almost all their savings and assets.

This is up more than a third – 37 per cent – on the previous year.

Independent retirement specialist Malcolm McLean said: “The continuing failure by the Government to fix the crisis in social care is now fast becoming a national scandal.

“There is absolutely no justification for allowing this to drift aimlessly on leaving some of the most vulnerable in our society facing financial wipeout in order to secure the basic care they so desperately need.”

Caroline Abrahams, director at charity Age UK which complied the report, added:

“When he became Prime Minister, Mr Johnson promised to fix social care and make sure no one would have to sell their home to pay for it.

“The obvious solution is for us all to share the risk of developing care needs by paying into a national fund, like we do with the NHS.”

Local authorities say they need an extra £6billion to meet the extra costs caused by Covid-19. Without this money they say they will be forced to make further cuts to social care this autumn.

Jan Shortt, general secretary of the National Pensioners Convention, said: “It’s completely wrong that having worked all your life, paid your dues and more, you should then have to sell your home to buy care in later life.”

Campaigners want to see a National Care Service set up, free at the point of use and funded by taxation.