Forum Message

Topic: Re:Reply
Posted by: Mike Warman
Date/Time: 22/02/20 08:58:00

Just a point re attendance allowance and care homes as I have some experience here.  Whilst my father was at home with visiting carers we arranged the lower level attendance allowance.

When he unfortunately had to move to a care home, they arranged for the attendance allowance to increase to the higher level.  Also state pension remained.

In our case this was through privately funded care homes, as my fathers care needs had increased it seemed natural to increase the attendance allowance,

If council funded then I understand that existing income should reasonably be used to contribute towards the cost, and that seems only reasonable, although I do think some should be left available to the person to allow for buying clothes and creature comforts etc that are not provided.

Regarding the initial point around overall funding, I think that where people are self funding, they obviously have some money (house, capital, income) but this can drain very quickly.  Broadly Care home stays average 2-4 years I believe, but the fear around money is that they last longer rather than shorter so it runs out,

My thought is that an allowance should be phased in, perhaps nothing in year one, and maybe two but by year 3 say £15-20k allowance, and maybe after 4 years all should be paid.

This could be managed via expanding  the existing attendance allowance scheme or something similar .

This would I think achieve a reasonable balance and compromise.

- people would not end up burning though hundreds of thousands of savings through long stays as the state would take over
- by avoiding paying for the first year or two and phasing after that the greater past of the cost would be avoided by the state and taxpayer

When people have their own property this can be rented out to help pay for the care fees to reduce the capital burn.  We took this approach with my father so whilst his savings were reducing as the costs were higher than his income even with the rental, this did reduce savings depletion.

I do think for self funders a balance is needed.  For example if I had a £30k net income in retirement and care fees were £50-60k I would expect in all circumstances to be contributing from that income.

Having seen many care homes while we investigating, I also think it’s best if people’s familys can choose if they are self funding - there is a huge variation in type and quality of care homes and care.  We experienced two, one a new hotel style shiny care home that looked good but was too large and impersonal and did not look after my father well we felt as the carers were moved around too much they couldn’t build the relationships well, so we switched to a smaller one (with 23 residents) that was a bit run down without any extra facilities but the carers all knew all the residents well and looked after them with love, and so much nicer for people at the end of their lives to have that.

Leaving oneself totally in the hands of the council to decide I think is more worrying as the social care departments won’t know the people that well and have many competing priorities.


Entire Thread
TopicDate PostedPosted By
How Do We Solve the Care Crisis?07/02/20 18:17:00 Martine Guy
   Re:How Do We Solve the Care Crisis?07/02/20 19:18:00 Andy Pike
   Re:How Do We Solve the Care Crisis?07/02/20 19:20:00 Philippa Bond
      Reply07/02/20 19:33:00 Martine Guy
      Re:Re:How Do We Solve the Care Crisis?07/02/20 19:37:00 Ivonne Holliday
         Re:Re:Re:How Do We Solve the Care Crisis?07/02/20 20:11:00 Andy Pike
            Re:Re:Re:Re:How Do We Solve the Care Crisis?09/02/20 17:22:00 Bunny Payne
         Reply07/02/20 20:13:00 Martine Guy
            Re:Reply07/02/20 20:36:00 Ivonne Holliday
               Reply07/02/20 20:54:00 Martine Guy
                  Re:Reply07/02/20 21:42:00 Lucille Grant
                     Reply07/02/20 22:02:00 Martine Guy
                        Re:Reply08/02/20 01:28:00 Philippa Bond
                           Re:Re:Reply08/02/20 09:06:00 Lucille Grant
                              Re:Re:Re:Reply08/02/20 15:46:00 Philippa Bond
   Re:How Do We Solve the Care Crisis?09/02/20 15:46:00 Ruth Pates
   Re:How Do We Solve the Care Crisis?09/02/20 15:54:00 Ruth Pates
      Re:Re:How Do We Solve the Care Crisis?09/02/20 17:35:00 Bunny Payne
         Reply09/02/20 18:02:00 Martine Guy
            Re:Reply09/02/20 18:09:00 Ruth Pates
         Reply09/02/20 18:29:00 Michael Ixer
         Re:Re:Re:How Do We Solve the Care Crisis?09/02/20 19:44:00 Barbara Stevens
      Re:Re:How Do We Solve the Care Crisis?09/02/20 17:44:00 Caroline Whitehead
         Re:Re:Re:How Do We Solve the Care Crisis?09/02/20 18:07:00 Ruth Pates
            Reply09/02/20 19:20:00 Martine Guy
               Re:Reply09/02/20 19:39:00 Andy Pike
                  Reply09/02/20 20:00:00 Martine Guy
                     Re:Reply09/02/20 21:05:00 Andy Pike
                        Reply09/02/20 21:18:00 Martine Guy
                           Re:Reply09/02/20 21:23:00 Andy Pike
                              Reply09/02/20 21:38:00 Martine Guy
                              Reply09/02/20 22:07:00 Michael Ixer
                     Re:Reply09/02/20 21:37:00 Philippa Bond
                        Reply09/02/20 21:55:00 Martine Guy
                           Re:Reply19/02/20 22:13:00 Philippa Bond
                              Re:Re:Reply19/02/20 23:00:00 Philippa Bond
                              Reply19/02/20 23:08:00 Michael Ixer
                              Reply19/02/20 23:16:00 Martine Guy
   Reply20/02/20 09:35:00 Sean Hodges
   Re:How Do We Solve the Care Crisis?21/02/20 15:42:00 John Hawkes
      Reply21/02/20 17:14:00 Martine Guy
         Reply21/02/20 17:38:00 Martine Guy
         Re:Reply21/02/20 17:39:00 John Hawkes
            Re:Re:Reply21/02/20 17:41:00 John Hawkes
               Re:Re:Re:Reply21/02/20 18:16:00 Jonathan Callaway
                  Reply21/02/20 18:42:00 Martine Guy
               Re:Re:Re:Reply21/02/20 18:54:00 Philippa Bond
                  Re:Re:Re:Re:Reply21/02/20 19:00:00 Philippa Bond
                     Reply21/02/20 19:11:00 Martine Guy
                        Re:Reply21/02/20 19:15:00 Philippa Bond
                           Reply21/02/20 19:51:00 Martine Guy
                              Re:Reply21/02/20 21:07:00 Philippa Bond
                                 Reply21/02/20 21:48:00 Martine Guy
                                    Re:Reply22/02/20 08:58:00 Mike Warman
                                       Reply22/02/20 12:31:00 Martine Guy
                                       Reply22/02/20 15:29:00 Michael Ixer
                                          Re:Reply23/02/20 10:04:00 Philippa Bond
                                             Reply23/02/20 11:43:00 Michael Ixer
                                                Reply23/02/20 14:32:00 Martine Guy
                                                   Reply23/02/20 18:50:00 Michael Ixer
                                                      Re:Reply23/02/20 19:18:00 Jonathan Callaway
                                                         Reply23/02/20 20:06:00 Martine Guy
                                                         Re:Re:Reply23/02/20 22:49:00 Philippa Bond

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