By the way... Another rip-off facing the elderly

THE debate about how we can be cared for in old age and how it will be funded is never out of the headlines, and whenever I read about it, a boiling fury is reignited inside me.

During my father’s last illness some years ago, he was bedridden. Four score years and ten, this noble and very private gentleman was cared for with such diligence by my mother that my brothers and I elected her to honorary sainthood.

But day and night care over a period of two years would not have been possible without some help from visiting carers, who attended briefly. It was a good service from stalwart individuals who built a high degree of continuity — vital given the intimacy of such a situation.

The local authority, which was in London, agreed to pay for part of this cover, and my mother paid the rest.

But one day, it called suddenly to say the household was receiving too much care and support and that it was about to pull the rug.

My mother wisely defaulted from the system and contracted the same agency that was providing the service for the local authority. This ensured the same carers continued to look after my father.

It was then that we discovered the hourly rate the local authority had been asking us to pay was over £1 per hour more than the fee the agency was charging us directly.

Even allowing for modest administration costs, on what grounds does a local authority seek to make that profit?

It has not been criminal in this, but it is guilty of very sharp practice — and this is being repeated across the nation. Reprehensible.