Frugal pensioners hit by a £10,000 care-home penalty

MIDDLE-CLASS elderly people who pay for their care home places are charged £10,000 a year more than fellow residents whose bills are met by the taxpayer, a report said yesterday.

Those who own their own homes or have savings typically pay £750 a week for a care home bed, it found.

This is £195 a week more than councils pay for people without savings who have similar rooms and similar levels of help.

The extra charges, £10,140 a year for someone living in an average residential care home, are demanded by care home operators from residents who pay privately because councils refuse to pay the full costs of looking after those whose bills are met by the taxpayer.

As a result, elderly people who have saved and paid mortgages throughout their lives are subsidising the care home places of those who have not saved. The subsidies are even higher for people who need the greater levels of care provided by nursing homes. Those paying their own nursing home bills are likely to be charged £1,000 a week – £270 a week more than the average amount councils are willing to pay for statefunded nursing homes residents.

The figures, produced by care industry analysts LaingBuisson, put the extra costs faced by private payers in nursing homes compared with taxpayer-funded residents at more than £14,000 a year.

The estimates underline the deepening sense of injustice felt by middleclass families at the way frail and vulnerable parents who need care home places are forced to spend the value of their property and savings to meet the cost, while others without savings receive the same care free.