HOW CARE HOMES HIT MIDDLE CLASSES

Councils order higher charges for thrifty to subsidise those with no savings

MIDDLE- class pensioners are being forced to pay higher care home fees to subsidise those who failed to save for their retirement, a damning report reveals today.

MPs found that councils are telling private providers to increase costs for pensioners who have to pay the fees themselves. This subsidises cheaper, council- funded places for pensioners who don’t have savings.

As a result, middle-class pensioners are being charged much more for the same room and level of service.

The rip-off is revealed today by the Commons communities and local government committee, which describes it as unaccepta- ble. The committee’s report quotes research suggesting that ‘self-funders’ were paying an average of 43 per cent more than councils were paying for an identical care home place.

A study by Age UK last year said councils typically pay between £421 and £624 a week for each care home place, while self-funders are charged between £603 and £867.

Currently, anyone who has assets of more than £23,250 in

England and Scotland – £23,750 in Wales – must pay their own bills, and councils start to meet the costs only when the value of their assets falls below that threshold.

Today’s report from MPs revealed that ‘several care providers had been advised by councils that they should subsidise the council’s fees by charging higher rates for private clients’.

Kent Integrated Care Alliance, which represents homes with a total of 8,500 beds across the county, said its members had been told by the local authority that ‘they should look to make profits from the privately funded service users’.

It told MPs: ‘Local authority fees are significantly lower than the rate required to provide an appropriate level of care. In a home, privately funded service users can now pay up to 50 per cent more in care home fees compared to the local authority fee rates.’

Brunelcare, which provides care places in Bristol, was told its private rates ‘ should be raised in order to subsidise the socially funded provision’.

Research commissioned by the County Councils Network found that in 96 per cent of cases, ‘selffunders’ paid more than statefunded residents in the same home for the same room and the same level of care. The group of 37 local authorities in England found that on average there was a 43 per cent premium on private payers, meaning they were paying hundreds of pounds more each week.

The cross-party committee of MPs said the unfair extra charges for people who paid for their own care had to stop.

‘We do not believe it is acceptable for self-funders to pay higher costs for the same care in order to subsidise the costs of local authorityfunded clients,’ they said. Labour MP Clive Betts, who chairs the committee, said: ‘There is clearly an unfairness in the system.

‘Authorities are at the bare bones of what they can pay. But it is not right that those who are paying privately top up what care providers need to run their homes.’

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: ‘Sadly, the grim picture of social care painted in this report is one we recognise all too well from what we are hearing from older people, families and front-line staff.’

She added: ‘Some older people are still able to access the care they need but their numbers are falling fast and many more are not so lucky and are having to make do with wholly inadequate help, or no help at all.’

Tory MP Bob Blackman, who sits on the committee, said it was unlikely most families would know they were subsidising other care home residents.

He added: ‘Care homes have to provide properly trained staff, 24 hours a day and are trying to balance the books. One of the ways they have done that is to up the charges for those people who are not put into the home by councils but are basically self-funders.’

A Local Government Association spokesman said: ‘Councils are rightly able to use their bulk purchasing power to attract better rates for care provision.

‘This has resulted in a significant difference between the rates charged to local authorities and those charged to self-funders. This is increasingly unbearable for selffunders. There is an urgent need for a long-term, sustainable solution to the social care funding crisis.’