A recent report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has claimed that Britain's long-term care system is both unfair and confusing. The charity has called for a national debate on how to share the cost between the State and private individuals in order to meet the growing needs of an ageing population.
It also suggested that the current system is unsustainable, as it doesn't provide a straightforward set of entitlements according to how much care people need and a well-established set of rules about how much people should contribute. The charity believes that during the next 50 years, we will have to spend around four times the amount in real terms on long-term care as we do now, and keeping the present system will mean that the onus of payment will fall onto individuals, many of whom will find it difficult to pay.
The foundations options for reforming this system include improving the arrangement that helps pay for residential and nursing care based on an older persons diagnosed condition and limiting the extent to which people are required the use the proceeds of selling their homes before they are eligible for help with care costs.
Our view
People need to be forced to save in Pension Funds (compulsory pensions) instead of being allowed to spend on holiday homes in the sun etc. Care in later life is a problem and regrettably, the individual will have to pay. Cross subsidising by the richer to the poorer is acceptable, but only to a certain level.
Learn more about Long Term Care in our site Care Fees Adviser.com.