What is the ‘Pay when you die scheme’?

At the moment up to 40,000 people per year are forced to sell their homes to pay for care costs. However, as of July this year it was announced that a new scheme is coming into action by 2015. This new scheme called ‘pay when you die’ is aiming to allow elderly people to stay in their homes and receive care rather than having to sell their homes to pay for care costs. Health secretary Andrew Lansley said: “Our plans will end the scandal of people being forced to sell their home to pay for their care. From 2015, everyone will be able to get a loan instead of having to sell their home while they are alive. I recognise that we can go further. We can enable people not to lose everything they have worked and saved for if they need care for several years.” In other words, watch this space. What the scheme will do is enable people to get a loan to cover the costs of their care from their local authority whilst they are alive and this money is then recovered from their estate when they die.

The White Paper also set out plans to:

 

• Abolish the postcode lottery for social care by bringing in a national threshold for access
• Introduced rules that will make it harder for councils to permit home help visits of only 15 minutes
• Announced plans to provide millions of pounds to help people stay in their own homes
• Stated that the government is considering free social care for the terminally-ill to help them stay at home. 

Ministers also want to cap the amount the elderly and disabled have to pay for their care but have yet to come to any agreement as to how best to do this. Michael Kitts, partner, government and public sector, at PricewaterhouseCoopers, says some progress has been made, but 'many questions remain unanswered' and the issue of future funding has not been properly addressed. ‘There is still lots of uncertainty. For example, the level, and application of any cap on care costs; how residual costs beyond the cap are funded by local authorities and others, and the practical details of loan schemes, such as how local authorities can fund the cost of care, which will be an immediate requirement, pending the agreement of any loan. But local authorities cannot wait until all of this becomes clear to take action. The demographic shift and demand for care services is not going away. By 2033, a tenth of the population will be over 75.'

In the meantime Andrew Lansley also said they were going to implement ‘consistent criteria for access to care and support, and we’re going to build quality into this system where we stop contracting by the minute and we give quality ratings on care providers and we’re going to give people much more control of their own care – personal budgets for everybody and information and advice to help them to secure to care and support they need’.

So it seems that there may been cause to belief that care costs will get easier to manage, however, there is still a way to go. But for now it is reassuring to know that at least we are heading in the right direction. For more in depth advice on this new scheme and on how it may affect you do not hesitate to get in touch with one of us and we will try and answer our questions as thoroughly as possible.


All content provided on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. The owner will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.

For further information and advice on this scheme please call 01242 255125 or email us at joan@graysgroup.co.uk. Visit www.graysgroup.co.uk to see our range of services.