Care costs consuming island
homes: Could this affect you?
As we live longer lives, more of us will require residential care in the future. With taxes incapable of paying the bills, the chances are your home will pick up the tab. Kirsty Haxby investigates.
HAVING to pay for residential and social care has been covered extensively in the media over the last decade. It is a matter which has caused great controversy, especially amongst home owners who have had to sell their home to pay their care fees. Such situations are becoming more and more common in our increasingly ageing population and, as this article will explore further, increasingly difficult to escape.
Many have spent the majority of their life working hard, paying income tax and national insurance to benefit from a free National Health Service and State pension in the hope that they will be looked after beyond retirement. However, every year this expectation is becoming somewhat of a fallacy when we consider paying for residential care.
At the moment it is estimated that half of women and a third of men over 65 will require long term care at some point which they may have to pay for – the chance being higher the older one becomes. Therefore each and every one of us must prepare ourselves for this reality. At the moment the cost of care may set back each person, on average, £500-600 per week. If you do not qualify for free care you will have to fund it yourself which may involve having to sell your home to cover the costs. This article seeks to briefly explain the current situation and how people can help themselves before it is too late.
