An elderly person living at home on their own may need help with difficult tasks, with heavy lifting, maintenance of the property, filling in impossible government on line forms and the other hazards of the modern world.They need to pay for all the food, housing costs and support out of their pension and benefits. Social care has to assess what additional support they might qualify for to assist their continuing to live in their own home.
An elderly person accepted for a state financed care home gets free board and lodging and plenty of staff back up for daily tasks. It is true their state pension is reduced to reflect all the freebies they get as a care home resident. Nonetheless it is a big financial commitment by the state.
So the big issue for social policy for the elderly is when and how does an elderly person qualify for full free board and lodging in a care home? This depends on the answer to the other crucial question, what free back up and support is permissible to stay living at home?
Councils vary in the range and costs of support to the elderly and in the judgements they make about when to take full responsibility for someone’s daily living.
Some people argue the care home for someone with no savings or home to sell should provide a more basic service than the more luxurious private sector homes charging high fees for good personal care and fine dining. Others think it right that the state often buys into good private sector care homes at a discount so the full price self funder lives alongside the discounted state funded resident.
What should we expect for a care home service for people with no private means? Should the state buy places at private homes or run its own? What should the trigger be for an elderly person to be accepted for a free care home place?
