Understanding Elderly Care Realities

In a world where discussions about aging and long-term care are often clouded by misconceptions and fear-mongering, this content offers a breath of fresh air. Here’s why you should invest your time in reading it:

1. Dispel Common Myths: This article challenges widespread beliefs about elderly care, providing you with a more accurate picture of what to expect.
2. Make Informed Decisions: By understanding the realities of care needs and costs, you’ll be better equipped to make sound financial and personal decisions for yourself or your loved ones.
3. Reduce Anxiety: Learning that not everyone ends up in a care home and that stays are often shorter than perceived can alleviate unnecessary worry about the future.
4. Understand Policy Challenges: Gain insights into the complexities of care policy, including the much-discussed but elusive care cost cap.
5. Navigate Financial Planning: Learn about the potential pitfalls of certain financial planning strategies and why some advertised solutions may not be as effective as claimed.
6. Grasp the Big Picture: Get a comprehensive overview of the care sector, including employment figures and the number of care homes in the UK.
7. Prepare Realistically: Armed with statistics on care needs at different ages and average life expectancies, you can plan more effectively for potential future needs.
8. Avoid Costly Mistakes: Understanding the implications of the 2014 Care Act can help you avoid ineffective asset protection strategies.
9. Gain a Balanced Perspective: This content offers a nuanced view of elderly care, helping you balance concerns about costs with the realities of care needs.
10. Empower Yourself: By demystifying the process and systems involved in elderly care, this information empowers you to navigate this complex area with greater confidence.

Whether you’re planning for your own future, concerned about aging parents, or simply want to be well-informed about societal issues, this content provides valuable insights that can help you approach the topic of elderly care with clarity and confidence.

Both of my grandparents died quite early, my mother had a stroke at 55 and has just had her 80th birthday – she still lives at home and is looked after by private carers and my brother who lives with her.

Any plans we wanted to put in place may not have been needed and for most of us any planning in this areas is expensive and difficult to unwind.

This situation is really quite common, but the press and scare-mongers would have you believe everyone ends up in a home and everything they own is spent. It isn’t true.

Trying to plan away a potential liability for your own costs of care is ‘s not like low cost insurances where you treat it as an expense just in case. Planning for Care Fees is o an expensive exercise that is hard to unravel and there is more than an outside chance it won’t work.

• “ringfence your assets” they say.
• “protect your estate” the exclaim.
• “prevent your home being sold”

Most of it’s rubbish.

In July 2011 the Dilnot Report was published. This argued for a cap on the costs of care and was immediately considered as viable option to cover the needs our elderly.

The cap was going to be implemented at rate of £86,000 with effect from October 2023 and since then has been pushed back for another two years whilst explaining that there is more funding available (£1.3bn) and … blah blah blah.

The Care Cap can has been kicked down so many roads for so long I find it difficult to believe that I am still talking about it.

Will we ever see one, will it ever happen?

The costs are going to be pretty horrific and without reform I can’t see these being met from general taxation – not unless these increase substantially to cover it. My current view is we won’t see a Cap on Care costs.

If the Conservatives win the next election (unlikely) Labour (the possible winners) will have enough to deal with and it will kicked into the long grass again. Perhaps with a further review – ‘just to get the policy right and fair for all taxpayers’. Bear in mind the recommendations were made to Government in 2011 and nothing has been implemented so far.

Please don’t hold you breath and hope.

Interesting to note that all the ‘restrictions and changes’ were put in place in the 2014 Care Act but none of the benefits (the cap on costs) have been implemented. One has to wonder…

As I write some 700,000 people are employed in the care sector and there are some 20,000 care homes (+ nursing homes) around the UK.

Facts are:

The percentage of people experiencing difficulties with Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) increases significantly with age: 15.5% among those aged 65 to 74, 24.6% for the 75 to 84 age group, and sharply rises to 43.9% for those aged 85 and over. This indicates a substantial portion of the older population requires some level of care and support (Age UK).

The average age of someone needing care is 84.

Average stay for men is 3.9 years and for women is 5.3 years.

All of these figures are from Age UK and the ONS.

Expected costs of going into a home range from £27,000 – £39,000 per year and probably a bit more in the South East.

When making decisions about funding or planning for them, you will need to be mindful of your options and the above figures.

There is a relatively small number of 65 – 80-year-olds that need to go into homes. The vast majority of us live at home until we emigrate to heaven.

When we do get into a home, we tend not to stay there for long.

Average life expectancy (ONS figures) 79 for men and 83 for women

Not everyone ends up in home and the people selling solutions to avoid having to fund the cost of your care forget the implications of the 2014 Care Act.

There is a good chance that gifting assets won’t work and trusts are equally as unlikely. But there are options and things you can do to reduce the impact.

In summary, the care cap remains elusive while sector demand grows. However actual individual exposure is shorter than perceived. Financial planning helps but brings risk of unused provisions

While care costs threaten savings, not everyone ends up needing extended residential care. Planning options exist but may have limited effect. With life expectancy averages under 83 years, care costs impact a minority for a relatively short final period of life.

As always, if you are stuck with any of this and you need some help and advice, please get in touch and I will do my best to help you through it. It is a bit of a minefield, but once you understand the process and the systems, it is relatively straightforward even if. it is news you don’t want to hear. You can also get access to the Dying to Know – Online Sessions

Sources

Trusted Care Pro What Is The Average Age Of Someone Needing Care? | TrustedCare Professional Services

The Access Group The Social Care Cap Explained | Development & Predictions (theaccessgroup.com)

Age UK age-uk-briefing-state-of-health-and-care-july-2023-abridged-version.pdf (ageuk.org.uk)