Care homes ‘are charging after residents’ death’

CARE homes are breaking the law by charging residents fees after they have died, a regulator has said.

Residents are being charged upfront fees, which can be up to £5,000, when they move in, and grieving families are then also charged for up to four weeks after the death of a loved one.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it believed care companies that did this were breaking the law, and had written to several telling them to stop or face court action.

The CMA also said people who paid for their own care were being charged £12,000 a year more than the fees paid by councils.

Its study found that wealthier residents were being overcharged because councils were failing to give care homes enough money to cover the places they fund for poorer residents.

Fees for “self-funded” residents have reached an average of £44,000 a year, or £846 a week, compared to the £621 that councils pay.

Speaking at the launch of the report, Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the watchdog, said: “To a degree, some discounts are acceptable in the sector. The problem here is that it has gone too far, to a stage where because of funding issues, the local authorities have pushed down fees to a level that has significantly increased fees for the selffunders.”

The CMA warned that the funding shortfall, which could total £1billion a year, left the companies unstable and could lead to mass closures as care homes with more council-funded residents struggled to make ends meet.

A quarter of care homes are thought to hold 75 per cent of the country’s poorer care home residents, who have their care paid for by the council.

It also said the Care Quality Commission should make recommendations to the Government about the amount local authorities should be paying to stop self-funders being overcharged.