Families 'misled' over care fees

By Sarah Pennells Business reporter, BBC News

The only way many people can afford care home fees is by selling their home

Families of vulnerable elderly people are being misled over possible help with care home fees, says a charity.

Age Concern & Help the Aged says some people struggling to sell a home to pay fees are not being offered council no-interest schemes they are entitled to.

About 60,000 people a year must sell their home to fund care, but sales are taking longer in the current recession.

The Local Government Association says councils in England that cannot afford the schemes do not have to offer them.

Every year about 170,000 people need to go into care, and for one in three the only way they can afford the fees is to sell their home.

Local authorities are supposed to offer deferred payment schemes, which give people the option of not paying for their care until they sell their home or after their death.

'Good option'

However, Kate Jopling, senior policy manager at the UK's largest charity for elderly people, Age Concern & Help the Aged, says it has been contacted by a growing number of people who say they have not been told about this option.

Every council - and there are 150 councils - has to look at their own budgets, their own priorities and their own resources Richard Kemp, LGA

"We are unfortunately hearing from an increasing number of people whose local authority are not mentioning the scheme or who are encouraging them to go for a different product, a commercial product," she says.

"We do need local authorities offering, universally, this scheme as it's a good option for many people."

The Department of Health has recently issued new guidance for councils in England about the scheme.

It states that health ministers "expect councils to offer deferred payment agreements in appropriate cases and draw deferred payments arrangements to the attention of prospective residents."

Regulation-bound

But according to Richard Kemp, from the Local Government Association (LGA), authorities are also bound by regulations over how they spend their budgets.

He warns that if councils cannot afford to offer the interest-free option, they do not have to do so.

"Guidance is guidance and every council - and there are 150 councils - has to look at their own budgets, their own priorities and their own resources," he says.

"Even if it's a loan, if it's a short term thing, that money has to come from somewhere."

Councils in Wales and Scotland do not have that leeway and have to offer the deferred payment scheme.

In next week's Budget, the government is expected to announce the publication of a Green Paper which could propose that no-one will have to pay care home fees until they die.

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