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The North West
underestimates care home cost by £1.5k as care home fees soar in the
UK
PARTNERSHIP, the care
annuity provider, has revealed the results of its first Care Index,
where it has found that people in the North West underestimate the
cost of residential care on average by £1,579 per annum, or over 6%.
The findings come at a time when care home fees across the UK are
soaring, with the average cost per year of a care home in the North
West is estimated at £24,856. On average, approximately how
much do you think a residential care home charges for someone to
live there per year (regardless of who pays for it)?
|
Region |
Average cost per year. Reality |
Average cost per year. Consumers’ perceptions |
The difference between perceptions & reality |
|
London |
£35,516 |
£28,864 |
-£6,652 |
|
South East |
£31,460 |
£29,162 |
-£2,298 |
|
East of England |
£29,120 |
£28,750 |
-£370 |
|
Scotland/Wales |
£27,508 |
£26,244 |
-£1,264 |
|
South West |
£27,352 |
£27,404 |
+£52 |
|
East Midlands |
£25,584 |
£27,382 |
+£1,798 |
|
North East |
£25,376 |
£24,559 |
-£817 |
|
Yorkshire & Humberside |
£25,376 |
£21,938 |
-£3,438 |
|
North West |
£24,856 |
£23,277 |
-£1,579 |
|
West Midlands |
£24,804 |
£26,204 |
+£1,400 |
The Partnership Care Index
conducted 1023 online interviews with consumers aged over 45,
including 100 interviews with those aged 75 and over, to measure
attitudes towards long-term care across the UK.
The survey found that Londoners were worst at perceiving the cost of
residential care accurately (with an underestimation of 18.73%),
followed by those from Yorkshire and Humberside who underestimated
the cost of care by 13.55%. The South West and East of England were
the most accurate regions in the UK in their perceptions of care
home costs. The survey also found that, on average,
respondents thought that 41% of over 65s would need to go into long
term care at some point in their lives for an average of 6 years and
3 months.
Chris Horlick, Managing Director of Care, Partnership, said:-
“As care home fees rocket, many people are underestimating how much
they will have to pay should they ever need to go into care. Typical
quality care homes can cost a great deal more, with many quality
care homes’ fees in London and the South East costing nearly £50,000
a year or more.
This is a matter of significant public concern. If people are not
aware of the real costs of care they will not plan properly to fund
them. This problem can only grow as the oldest in our population,
who are most likely to need care, are set to increase significantly.
There are currently over 400,000 elderly people in residential care.
The number is predicted to increase to 750,000 in 2031 and more than
triple to 1.5m by 2081.*”
Horlick added;- “While the average person in residential care
will live for 2 years 3 months, Partnership’s policyholders live on
average for 4 years in residential care and 12% live for 8 years or
more. If the trend for people in residential care over the next
decade is to live for longer like Partnership’s policyholders, this
will also have a dramatic impact on the costs of care.”
* (Source - Laing & Buisson (2012) Care of elderly people UK
Market Survey) |
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North West faces
highest cut to fire spending in England
IN 2012-13 the North West
is experiencing the largest budgeted decrease in local authority
5 service spending of anywhere in England (-0.9%) excluding
London. Overall Service Expenditure by local authorities in the
North East decreased by 4.2% on average. In addition to a reduction
in fire service spending the North West is also budgeting for one of
the largest reductions in planning and development spending (-12.4%)
and one of the smallest cuts in education spending (-5.9%).
The data, compiled by the Department for Communities and Local
Government (CLG) and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and
Accountancy (CIPFA), shows that Overall Total Service Expenditure by
local authorities in England is estimated to fall by 4.8 per cent
this year to £94.7bn. Last year, spending fell by 5.7% to £99.5bn.
Local authority budgeted spend for 2012-13 has reduced to below
2007-08 levels. This is equivalent to a fall of £238 per person from
a peak of £2,052 per person 2 years ago in 2010 to 2011 to £1,814 today.
Education will see the largest budgeted reduction in spending at
8.6% and is the only spending area that expects harsher cuts in
2012 to 2013 than in 2011 to 2012. This figure is influenced by the
reallocation of resources thanks to academies which are funded
outside local government.
Social care is the only area expected to see successive annual
increases in spend, which despite significant efficiency savings are
still subject to unavoidable budgetary pressures including an ageing
population.
The figures also show variations in average regional budgeted
spending by councils. Local authorities in the East Midlands
(-7.5%), South West (-7.1%) and East of England (-7.0%) are, on
average, reducing their spending the most while councils in
Yorkshire and the Humber (-2.9%) and Greater London (-3.3%) are
reducing theirs the least.
Alison Scott, CIPFA’s local government policy lead, said:-
“These statistics illustrate the changing nature of local council
services as a result of spending cuts coupled with changes in how
services are provided such as the academies programme. As cuts and
service transformation continue to bite the balance of council
services will continue to change.”
2 arrested in connection with
assault on 16 year old in Crosby
MERSEYSIDE Police have confirmed that 2 youths
have been arrested on Wednesday, 18 July 2012 in connection with the
assault of a 16 year old boy in Crosby on Sunday, 15 July 2012.
Officers were called at 3.45am on Sunday to a report of an
assault-taking place on Coronation Road. On arrival officers found a
16 year old boy with serious head injuries. Paramedics took the
victim, 16 year old Marcos Ringle, to hospital by ambulance. At this
time he remains in a critical, but stable condition. Officers
arrested 2 16 year old boys, one from Kirkby one from Walton, today
on suspicion of assault and robbery. At this time this edition was
written, the youths who had been arrested remain in Police custody
and are still being questioned by detectives. Anyone who may have
witnessed the incident or anyone with information is asked to
contact Merseyside Police on 0151 777 3011 or Crimestoppers on 0800
555 111. |
