Mrs Thomas was 87 years old when she died in a care home, having developed Alzheimer’s eight years before. She spent 11 years in care, and the crippling costs, which rose year after year, led to her exhausting her savings of over £250,000. She had to sell her beloved family home to continue funding her care. Cases like this illustrate just how disheartening a blow was dealt to those paying for care when the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, delivered her recent Budget. Ms Reeves’s decision to increase employers’ National Insurance contributions and increase the minimum wage will inevitably hike care fees up further.
While the NHS and public bodies are exempt from this rise, private care homes are not. The government has framed these changes as part of a broader strategy to tackle inflation and fund public services. However, for many care home residents and their families, they are likely to be more challenging.
In response to the Budget, care home owners have raised serious concerns about the financial pressures resulting from added costs. Many have warned that they could force them to close.
The cost of care has surged by 10% in the past year alone, pushing average annual fees to over £41,600 for a residential care placement and over £56,000 for one in a nursing home. Given this trend, it is inevitable that the increase in employers’ NI contribution will drive fees even higher, especially as care homes are already struggling with rising energy bills, staff shortages and general inflationary pressures.
While some care homes will be forced to raise their rates, others may cut services or reduce the quality of care to offset the financial strain.
This exemplifies why it is vital that people become aware that the cost of care can be reduced for those who qualify for continuing health care (CHC). This is a package whereby the NHS has a legal obligation to pay the full cost of care when a person’s primary needs are health-related. An estimated 30% of those who should be entitled to CHC are refused. Whether a person receives it depends on how they are assessed.
Increasingly stringent assessment criteria and a postcode lottery mean people are being wrongly assessed by the NHS, and cases where families are being wrongfully denied care funding are becoming increasingly common. NHS England data shows that, despite the ageing population, the number of people deemed eligible for CHC funding has fallen by over 20% since 2015.
The government must recognise that the care sector is at a tipping point.
Without financial support for care providers there is a real risk of erosion in standards. It is essential that future policy decisions include dedicated measures to protect both the quality of care and its affordability.
In the meantime, it is worth remembering that many people are missing out on financial help they are legally entitled to in the form of CHC. Redressing this, even retrospectively, could alleviate a huge burden.
◆ Lisa Morgan is head of the nursing care fee recovery team at Hugh James Solicitors. For more details, visit hughjames.com
