Lincolnshire pensioners could spend over £100,000 in care home costs in wake of delayed social care cap

Expert calls for more support for elderly care following Autumn Statement

In last week’s Autumn Statement, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced delayed cap on social care, leaving older people ineligible for funding support until 2025 .

Experts at TakingCare Personal Alarms have revealed the areas of Lincolnshire that could be worst-affected by the delayed care cap, and called for more support for elderly care in the area

Last week’s Autumn Statement included a disappointing announcement for the elderly population with a two-year delay on social care funding. This means the proposed £86,000 limit on how much money older people will pay towards care costs will be paused until 2025.  

The cap on social care ensures that no individual will pay more than £86,000 towards care costs, but Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has delayed the introduction of the cap until 2025. Under Boris Johnson’s government, plans had been laid out for the care cap threshold to rise to support those with capital of less than £100,000 rather than the current £23,250 from October 2023.

However, the recent delay to the social care cap has now left pensioners in Lincolnshire to foot the bill for increasingly more expensive care home costs.

Now, people in Lincolnshire face paying as much as an extra £111,930 in care home costs from now until 2025.

A new study has found that older people in Lincolnshire could risk losing as much as 83% of the money in their homes to fund care home costs.

Over 30% of people in the region are aged over 65 (source: 2021 Census) leaving Lincolnshire’s pensioners particularly at risk.

With the average cost of care per year in the region standing at £37,310, those with a property worth less than £135,180 risk losing the majority of the capital from their home before hitting the governments current social care cap of £23,250.

Areas in Lincolnshire that have properties with low to mid-range market value could risk losing the most money from their home, such as residents in Skirkbeck, where the average property price is £134,480. Here, homeowners could lose over 80% of the money locked in their property if they pay for 3 years of elderly care.

According to the research, it would take the average person in Lincolnshire 52 years to save for their care home costs. On average, Brits spend around eight years saving for a housing deposit, but that same rate of saving would pay for just a one year stay in a care home. Care home residents typically stay in a care home for four years, meaning Brits saving patterns would fall short.

Under current government guidelines, care home residents are accountable for funding 100 per cent of their care home fees if their total capital is over the value of £23,250. Funding support is available at staggered intervals below this amount; however, an individual becomes eligible for funding support if capital drops below the £23,250 bracket during the time of self-funding.

Due to the sky-high costs, many Brits choose to use money locked in their home to fund their elderly care. For some, this can mean they lose more than 50 per cent of the value of their property to pay for care home fees.

In response to this latest announcement, TakingCare Personal Alarms is calling on the government to deliver more to support the UK’s ageing population. 

The delay could also cause a catastrophic butterfly effect for older people, as those with assets under £100,000 could see their savings slashed to pay for rising care costs.  

Louise Yasities, Elderly Care Expert from TakingCare Personal Alarms, comments:  

“The Chancellor’s announcement on the delay to the social care cap simply kicks the UK’s care crisis into the long grass and will only serve to increase pressures on the NHS. The decision to delay the cap on social care leaves the UK’s elderly population out in the cold, and many with no other option but to sell their homes to pay for care, which grows more and more costly by the year. 

“When the cap was originally announced, older people were set to pay no more than £86,000 on care for people in England, so it’ll come as a disappointment to many that this will no longer happen. Unfortunately, our older now faces a continuation of inadequate care, now with the added pressure of disastrous care costs. 

“Although NHS funding is secure and the initial extra £2.8 billion promised for social care is positive news, carers and patients need urgent clarity on where this money will be spent in real terms. As it stands, patients will be spending longer times in hospital beds unnecessarily. 

“It’s also likely, and even more disappointing, that this will cause delays to ambulance response times, meaning older people will be kept waiting even longer before receiving emergency care. 

“It would be good to see the Government acknowledge the potential of working with Local Authorities to invest in preventative solutions and bespoke care packages, leveraging technology-based care solution to help elderly people remain independent in their homes for longer. With an ageing population, creating ways for older people to live happily and gain value from their lives should be a top priority.” 

“The insight from this data serves to highlight the challenges faced by many older adults around how to pay for their care. The need to plan ahead for these costs is more important – and pressing – than ever before, especially considering the rising cost of living.”

“In the UK, first time buyers typically save for eight years to raise enough money for a house deposit – but just one year of care home fees costs more than the average house deposit. Yet individuals rarely consider care home costs when they think about saving for the future and even fewer take the steps to put money aside for their care home costs.”

Steve continued: “Helping people remain independent and at home for longer is a keyway in which homeowners can save on care home costs, and fall prevention is a central element to helping people achieve this.

“At TakingCare Personal Alarms, we’re big advocates for forward planning and implementing preventative measures to make sure older people have the right support in place before anything happens, meaning they are well placed to get the help they need as and when the time comes.”

For more advice about how to pay for elderly care, visit the TakingCare Personal Alarms resource guide.