SMART PLANNING FOR LATER LIFE

Whether you’re navigating the social care system with elderly parents or thinking ahead for yourself, the headlines can make bleak reading: NHS in crisis, retirement housing shortage, funding gap in adult social care.

We’re living longer and, as a result, more people are spending more time with long-term conditions, frailty, dementia and social care needs. Yet, the numbers receiving social care support has fallen from 15% to just 9% in eight years (to 2013/14), and added to this, there’s a real lack of housing suitable for the needs of old age.

What’s the Government doing?

The Care Act brought in significant change in social care in 2015, such as the right to an assessment for anyone in need of support. But some measures, including a cap on how much you might have to spend on your care needs, were suspended. Now all eyes are on the Government’s green paper due to be published this summer and its plans for a long-awaited overhaul on care and support for older people.

So, what are the choices right now?

‘It’s important to start thinking about care needs as a family early on – what is needed, what support might help. Be realistic about the costs of care from the start,’ says Ruthe Isden, head of health and social care, Age UK. ‘People don’t realise the social care system isn’t the same as the NHS – it doesn’t necessarily occur to them that they may have to pay for care. Although, in theory, there are national eligibility criteria, the reality is that local authorities just don’t have the budget. People who previously would have got some help are either no longer receiving care or getting less than they would in the past.’ So, take that as a wake-up call – if you think someone in your family is going to need care, don’t assume you can rely on the state.