WHEN the Care Bill becomes law the elderly will have to spend £150,000 on care before receiving any financial help.
The Bill had its second reading yesterday in the House of Commons.
From April 2016 the Tory coalition government legislation will cap care costs at £75,000, before an elderly person receives financial help from the state.
However the Labour Party has calculated that the elderly will spend twice that amount before the cap comes into effect.
This is because there are many costs that elderly people have to pay which will not count towards the cap.
Under the proposed new rules, older people whose care homes charge higher fees than their local council pays for residential care will have to fund the difference themselves.
That spending is not counted towards the cap.
Neither are ‘hotel and accommodation’ costs.
Elderly residents ‘cost of living’, like heating, electric and water bills and the amount they spend on food will also not be counted towards the cap.
This means that tens of thousands of elderly people are likely to die before receiving a penny of financial help for their care costs.
Shadow minister for care and older people, Liz Kendall, said: ‘David Cameron should be straight with elderly people about what they will really have to pay for their care.
‘Families deserve to be told the facts, rather than being conned, so they can properly plan for the future, and not have the government attempt to pull the wool over their eyes.’
NHS National GMB officer, Rehana Azam, told News Line: ‘We have a duty to look after the older generation.
‘Elderly people are going to be driven into poverty and won’t be able to pay for their care.’
Meanwhile a report published by The Care and Support Alliance has shown that as many as half a million older and disabled people have lost their care since the start of recession.
It also shows that there is a £1.6 billion ‘black hole’ in funding care.
The key findings of the report are:
• The number of elderly and disabled people receiving social care has fallen five years in a row – by a total of 347,000 since 2008.
• When considering demographic change during this period, almost half a million older and disabled people who would have received social care five years ago, now receive no support.
• Just to keep pace with demographic changes, spending on social care would have needed to rise by £1.6 billion.
The report states: ‘The past five years has seen a dramatic reduction in the number of adults receiving social care.
It adds: ‘The Care Bill, in its current form, will not address this crisis. The current underfunding of care is forcing the government to set the new “national eligibility threshold” too high, at the equivalent of ‘substantial’ FACS (Fair Access to Care Services).
‘This means those adults who “are or will be unable to carry out several personal care tasks” (currently defined as “Moderate” in the FACS criteria) will not be eligible for social care.
‘This will continue to exclude the 500,000 thousand older and disabled people identified in this report from receiving social care.
‘Furthermore, it means that over 300,000 older people with care needs will continue to pay for their own social care without this counting towards the new “cap” on care costs, as introduced by the Bill.’
• Also included in the Care Bill are amendments put in by Tory Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt that will give him the power to close down any hospital.
NHS national GMB officer Rehana Azam said: ‘Where Jeremy Hunt did not get his own way over Lewisham Hospital, this bill gives him the power so that he can do that.’
