Revealed... where you pay the most for nursing care
Areas in England and Wales with highest percentage of over-80s and their ‘astronomical’ annual costs
THE postcode lottery of care home bills pensioners face has been laid bare with some paying £16,000 more a year.
Those aged 80-plus in the East of England must find nearly £55,000 while those in the cheapest region – the North East – need £37,232.
Analysis of official figures also reveals that some of the highest prices are charged in areas with the most elderly residents. North Norfolk tops the list of over-80s hotspots.
They make up 9.54 per cent of the local population – and face paying £52,348 a year for a nursing home.
Rother, in East Sussex, and East Devon also have more than nine per cent of the population aged over 80 – who must stump up £52,988 and £52,780 respectively.
At the other end of the spectrum, Tower Hamlets, in London, has just 1.62 per cent of its population over 80 and they pay an average of £46,904 annually.
Critics say the current situation makes it extremely difficult for anyone to know how they should prepare to meet future costs.
Steven Cameron, pensions director at Aegon, said: “Care costs can be astronomical.
“In the East of England, where costs are highest, a year’s care is just short of £55,000.
“With fees at these levels, anyone in care for a considerable amount of time could have their lifetime savings wiped out in no time.
“Repeated delays in social care reform have created a postcode lottery for older people needing care in the UK.
“Our analysis shows how expensive it is to have to pay for care for any length of time. But secondly it highlights the significant cost differences individuals face depending on where they live.
“Against this picture of widely varying age profiles, we’ll continue to see shortages in the availability of care unless central government does more to support local authorities in social care hotspots.
“Looking at the hotspots of over-80year-olds throughout the country, we can see the highest concentration is in North Norfolk – which just happens to be the part of the country with the highest costs.”
The subject of social care has been brought into sharp focus as a result of the pandemic. Boris Johnson promised as he took office two years ago that the crisis in the social care system would be resolved.
But government proposals for reforming its funding have not been published.
However, today the Prime Minister, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Matt Hancock are reportedly meeting to thrash out a policy move.
Mr Johnson yesterday said the Government would bring forward “some good plans” on social care as he acknowledged difficulties facing workers in the sector during the pandemic.
Asked about social care funding during a visit to a laboratory in Hertfordshire, the Prime Minister said: “We are pledged to fix it and we must fix it for our country and for our society.
“Social care workers have borne the brunt of the pandemic and we have got to improve it, and we will. We will be bringing forward some good plans.”
Sir Andrew Dilnot, who was chosen by then-Prime Minister David Cameron more than a decade ago to review and reform the social care system, came up with a cap of £35,000 on care costs. This meant people would not have to sell their home to pay for care.
His idea of a cap is reported to be Mr Johnson’s favoured policy but the Chancellor has warned against the cost. Yesterday Sir Andrew said: “There’s always a trade-off being made in government. My encouragement to the Chancellor, the PM and Health Secretary is to be generous.
“The costs are not huge and the impact this has on people’s lives is massive.
“We should effectively introduce social insurance for social care for the whole population. “There could be an excess of say, £35,000, of overall lifetime care costs. But beyond that, if they were one of the unlucky people who faced very high care costs that’s a risk we would take across the community as a whole and they would be covered.”