Posted: Friday, 4 January 2019 @ 13:43
I am currently doing some work with a leading brand and helping to advise their elderly clients on their key legal issues.
One of the issues which is of primary concern is how to avoid liability for care fees.
The issue is getting a lot of attention with the implementation of the new Care Bill which has introduced a cap on care fees of £72,000.
However anyone who has scrutinised the Bill knows that it may take almost five years for elderly people to hit the cap, which will be introduced from April 2016, during which time they could have spent more than £150,000 on the costs of care. Indeed, the Institute of Actuaries even bandies the figure of £250,000 though this number may be too high.
The reason for such high numbers is because the cap does not cover accommodation and living expenses, and care costs only count towards the limit at the rate the local council would pay for a place in a residential home.
Therefore the cap of £72,000 is a mirage.
Therefore you still have a lot of people concerned over care fees.
Yes, you can take avoidance measures but the thing to bear in mind is that if you do not pay privately for care fees you put yourself in the hands of the local authority e,g you lose choice.
If you still wish to go down the avoidance route, you can get a life time interest trust where you put your home into trust or you can do other things in your will such as giving your share of your property as a distinct share to your children with a lifetime living interest to the surviving spouse.
All this may be an option but is certainly not a guarantee of care home fees avoidance.
On the ground, I am aware of members of the public being offered products which purport to guarantee care home avoidance and are being charged at RIP off rates.(say £5,000 for a service a solicitor would charge £1,000 at most)
The organisations offering these services knock on doors, sound convincing and play on people's fears. They are not regulated so recourse against them is low.
A better bill by the Government for dealing with care fees would mitigate this happening.