Thrifty pay £12,000 extra to fund free care for non-savers

More than four out of five care home operators admit they have had to put up prices for self- funding residents because of council cuts.

They say they would go out of business if they were not able to charge them higher fees – in some cases a difference of up to 50 per cent.

Many firms warned they were “grossly underfunded” to provide free care for all who qualified and admitted doing “the bare minimum” to comply with the law.

The findings are from a ­survey by the Labour Party of almost 800 care homes in England ahead of a white paper on social care reform due to be published shortly.

Shadow care minister Liz ­Kendall said: “This is a hidden taxation. Because councils do not have enough money themselves they are forced to pass on these cuts to care providers.

“This is having a devastating effect on some of the most vulnerable people in society, many of whom are being forced to pay more to get the care they need.”

At present, anyone with assets worth more than £23,500 gets no help from the state to pay for their care, even though some face costs of £100,000 a year.

About 120,000 care home residents are fully self-funded, while 170,000 are state-funded.

Average fees for nursing care in England are £698 a week.

If some private residents pay 50 per cent more than councils are providing, that would amount to more than £12,000 a year extra in some cases.

Of those who responded to Labour’s poll, 98 per cent said councils did not give them enough cash to pay for basic standards of care and 82 per cent said they charged ­private residents more to balance the books.

Seven out of 10 said council cuts were preventing them from investing in facilities. One firm said: “We do the bare minimum as we have no money.”

Another major non-profit group said: “Yes, self-funders subsidise council-funded residents and by as much as 50 per cent more.”

opinion: page 14