RegulationOct 2 2015

Long-term care demand up, but advice picture foggy: NAO

twitter-iconfacebook-iconlinkedin-iconmail-iconprint-icon
Search supported by
Long-term care demand up, but advice picture foggy: NAO

Hundreds of thousands of people are funding their own care, but a picture of how much advice is being accessed or sought in respect of these services is more complex, a report from the National Audit Office has claimed.

In the 22-page Care Act First Phase Reforms: Local Experience of Implementation report, details from selected local authorities showed the increasing demand for long-term care and how the recommendations made in the Care Act are being implemented.

According to the report, there are an estimated 154,000 self-funders in residential care across the UK, with 455,000 people paying for care at home in the community.

Specific figures were not available for some of the local authorities singled out for the NAO report; Suffolk County Council, for example, estimated there were between 6,000 and 7,000 who self-funded their own residential or home care, but Wakefield Council claimed it was “more difficult to predict” the numbers of non-residential self-funders.

However, the report did not make it clear how many self-funders had received any of the free advice, which had formed a significant part of the Care Act.

The report also did not highlight whether there had been any problems in accessing financial advice.

Janet Davies, co-founder of long-term fees care planning network Symponia, said: “The implementation of the Care Act so far seems to have a high compliance record within the local authorities but it is not clear whether demand or take-up has increased as a direct result of the changes.”

Ms Davies said the NAO report was inconclusive, adding: “The report knows it is hard to record the exact figures as there are countless self-funders that do not ever approach the local authority because they know their assets and/or income exceed the maximums.

“The fact remains that far too few individuals or families take proper advice. If they did, then there really would be something to celebrate as an achievement of the Care Act (phase one).”

In July this year, the Department of Health announced that it was delaying the much-needed cap on care costs until April 2020.

Key findings

Local authorities are not confident about the number of self-funders in their communities.

DoH estimates 154,000 self-funders in residential care homes in the UK.

DoH plans to monitor data from the first financial quarter to support its next spending review but NAO claims there may not be a true picture of demand on which the department should base its estimates.

Many local authorities are already adopting best practice initiatives and ways to improve achieving the Care Act’s objectives.

Source: NAO

Adviser view

Lorreine Kennedy, co-founder of Hemel Hempstead-based CareMatters, said: “We now work with five local authorities and three in particular have been very proactive about informing people of their access to financial advice. We have done several training sessions with some local authorities and the numbers of inquiries have also improved.

“On the ground I see that knowledge of the need for independent financial planning to help self-funders is very much improved.

“There may be some cynicism among social workers who think this is privatisation of the NHS but I explain that as a regulated financial adviser I am qualified to give people advice and we do a lot of pro-bono work. Other staff are just so happy that we can help self-funders in their local authorities.”