Topic starter
A long post and a tricky topic but a subject I am interested in and that causes much debate and resentment. The government have set up [url= http://www.dilnotcommission.dh.gov.uk/ ]The Dilnot commission[/url]to look into this.
One of the fundamental issues is should people be forced to sell their house to pay for care? On the surface this seems unfair but if they don't then the taxpayer has to pay instead and it makes no difference the person in receipt of the care, all that happens is their children get to inherit.
Why should the taxpayer pay so that the children of middle-class parents still inherit? On the other hand why should one person who built up an asset have to sell it when the person next to them gets the same care but spent all their money?
The key[url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/jul/04/elderly-care-proposals-dinot-report ] dilnot proposals are[/url] a cap on the amount that people should have to contribute and a large increase in the threshold below which you don't have to contribute.
This will mean a significant increase in taxation to ensure this is so - are you prepared to pay more taxes so that other folk get to inherit?
This nettle needs to be grasped however - state funding of private care home places has not kept up with costs - hence the collapse of southern cross care homes and recently homes are surviving by cross subsidy - overcharging private payers to subsidise the state funded. This clearly will decease if these proposals are adopted. Nursing homes are so cash strapped that they really struggle to pay staff decent rates so cannot recruit and retain quality staff - this leads toe the various scandals over poor care standards.
So - is this the right way to go - and how much extra tax are you prepared to pay?
Posted : 11/07/2011 1:55 pm
