Should we help the ‘spendthrift’ pay for care?

MY MOTHER has long borne the pressure on her living standards by taxation. But some councils’ threats to extract finance from those paying for private care is obscene. Nearly 94, widowed 40 years ago, she lived alone in her own house — the result of hard work — until two years ago. A former WAAF who served at Bletchley Park in the war, she never drew benefits. Her equity was over the £23,250 limit (which would cover about nine months in a private care home), negating council support. Now she’s using savings for a private care home. To suggest the cost should be raised to supplement non-private care for those who perhaps made no effort when working to secure their future is outrageous (Mail). It may discourage some from saving or owning equity. A social worker told me: ‘We like to work off a level playing field.’ Level it isn’t.

DAVE BASELEY, Great Hormead, Herts. I DON’T like to see assumptions made about those whose care in old age is funded by their local authority. My husband worked hard and made provision for retirement, but many pension products paid a pittance. We’ve had a heart-breaking double whammy: my husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and, a year later, I was diagnosed with incurable cancer. I got him into a care home as I wasn’t going to be well enough to care for him. I can die knowing he’s well cared for. Those whose care is funded by their local authority have their pension and pension credits taken to offset some costs. A resident is left with less than £30 a week. After buying toiletries and a newspaper, there’s little left. Not all the care is free. I’m not suggesting it should be, but I resent the idea that those who need help to pay have been spendthrifts. Many end up in a situation not of their own making.

FAY WHEAT, Huddersfield, W. Yorks.