Care for an elderly relative doesn’t have to mean they have to leave their home. What are the options?
For some elderly people, care in their home is by far the best option. What are they entitled to and what will they have to pay for themselves?
There usually comes a point when an elderly relative struggles with all the day-to-day tasks associated with living on their own, but that doesn’t mean they have to move into a care home. Local authorities only routinely pay for help in the home for those with the most severe needs. Research carried out by the charity Age UK last year found that over 60% of councils rated as providing 'excellent' care at home didn't pay for help for older people who couldn't get out of bed or wash themselves, because they didn't pass the 'needs' threshold.
Can you give away your home to avoid paying for care and, if so, should you?
Selling your home or giving it away might seem like an obvious way to avoid paying for care, but it’s not that straightforward.
The idea of selling your house to pay for care is something many people resent, so it’s not surprising that – once again – it’s become an election issue. Whoever wins and whatever plan they come up with, the fact is that until the changes are introduced some people will won’t be able to pay their care home fees unless they sell their home. Over the last few weeks several of you have asked the expert panel for advice about how to safeguard your parent’s home, so I thought I’d set out the rules about what you can and cannot do.
Almost 48,000 elderly people had to sell their home to pay for care in 2009, and many don’t know their rights.
With care costs running to £30,000 a year or more, thousands of people have no choice but to sell their home, sometimes when they've been given the wrong advice.
I can’t imagine there are many people who are comfortable with the prospect of selling their home for care, but for some there’s another problem: they’re either given the wrong information or they’re not told what their rights are. Some people are told they should pay for their own care when it should be the NHS that funds it. Others aren’t told about interest-free loan schemes that they may be able to sign up for. It can add more stress and worry to what is already a difficult time.
