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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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The dementia tax
— charging people with dementia for inadequate care: the evidence for change | | Corporate Author | Alzheimer's Society |
| Publisher | Alzheimer's Society, London, 2008 |
| Pages | 78 pp |
| Source | Alzheimer's Society, Devon House, 58 St Katharine's Way, London E1W 1JX. Website: www.alzheimers.org.uk |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Informal care ; Services ; Charges ; Costs [care] ; Social surveys ; England. |
| Annotation | The "fair access to care services" (FACS) system of charging is effectively a tax on many people with disabilities. This report is based on a survey completed by 2364 people with dementia and their carers in England in February and March 2008, and three focus groups in Harlow, Maidstone and Vale Royal. The report describes the types of services people currently receive at home or in care homes, and how much people are contributing financially towards the costs of care. It also presents results from the survey on help for carers, and on what disability-related benefits they currently receive: most people did not want benefits money to be moved into care services. Overall, people with dementia and their carers believe that the current system of care fails to provide access to good quality care, and that the system of charging is particularly unfair to them. The report recommends scrapping this "dementia tax"; a new system that delivers good quality care at a fair price; scrapping FACS; an end to age discrimination in funding social care; and recognising the role of carers. Recommendations for the short term include: early implementation of the National Dementia Strategy for England; implementation of personal budgets; reducing financial pressure on those paying for care; and an ambitious research programme. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-080902002 B |
| Classmark | EA: P6: I: QEJ: QDC: 3F: 82 |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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