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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Care home top-up fees
— the secret subsidy | | Author(s) | Anna Passingham, James Holloway, Simon Bottery |
| Corporate Author | Independent Age |
| Publisher | Independent Age, London, 2013 |
| Pages | 30 pp |
| Source | Independent Age, 6 Avonmore Road, London W14 8RL. |
| Keywords | Care homes ; Nursing homes ; Charges ; Costs [care] ; Social Services Departments ; England. |
| Annotation | Councils are required to check that "top-up payments" - paid by relatives to improve the quality of council-funded care - are voluntary, and that families can afford to pay them. In this report, Independent Age uses responses to Freedom of Information requests it made to all English councils with adult social services responsibilities about third party top-up fees for council-funded care home residents. It found that of the 129 councils (out of 152) responding, only 36 (28%) provided complete data, a further 36 (28%) did not provide any data at all, and 57 (44%) provided only incomplete data, or provided data that suggested they were not compliant with regulations. In addition, the top two concerns affecting callers to Independent Age's advice service in 2012 were care home funding and third party top-ups. Findings from a joint survey with the English Community Care Association (ECCA) report the views of care homes that reinforce the FOI findings: top-up payments are being paid by relatives, because the care home fees paid by councils are too low. The report summarises requirements made in the two main pieces of guidance from the Department of Health: Local Authority Circular LAC (2004)20: Guidance on National Assistance Act 1948 (Choice of Accommodation) Directions 1992; and Charging for Residential Accommodation Guide (CRAG). The report concludes that the evidence suggests that top-up fees have become a "secret subsidy paid in many "areas by families of the poorest care home residents to support the low level of care home funding that councils are willing or able to provide. A supplementary sheet summarises how Independent Age rated the local councils who responded to the FOI request. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-130906006 B |
| Classmark | KW: LHB: QEJ: QDC: PF: 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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