Care home costs rise TEN times faster than the average OAP income to more than £30,000 a year for the first time
The cost of a care home in London has leapt by 19 per cent
CARE HOME costs have soared at TEN TIMES the rate of pensioner incomes to more than £30,000 a year for the first time.
Ministers were last night accused of “betraying pensioners” as the eye-watering cost of OAP care was laid bare by a staggering report.
A nursing agency claimed care home costs on average soared by £1,536 to £30,926 in 2015-2016– a 5.2 per cent increase. At the same time, pensioner incomes rose by 1.1 per cent or £156.
In London, the cost of care homes has leapt by an astonishing 19 per cent to £38,896 a year.
Prestige Nursing, which collates the numbers each year, said Britain faced an old-age emergency as more pensioners than ever before find affordable care out of their reach.
Prestige chief Jonathan Bruce said: “The UK’s ageing population means many with longer-term conditions will require care of some sort.
“But for many the widening gap between costs and income will make it difficult to receive the amount and quality of care they require without substantial savings to fall back on.”
Prestige said the gap between costs and pensioner incomes had widened in 10 of 11 regions over the past year.
Furious opposition MPs tore into the Government, who last year dropped a pledge to cap care home costs at £72,000 for the over 65s.
Just two months after the shock Election victory in May 2015, David Cameron said the cap would be delayed until 2020 because of the huge funding crisis in council care schemes.
Lib Dem leader Tim Farron last night said: “This is clear evidence the Conservative Party has betrayed pensioners.
“They had the chance to deliver affordable support for people in retirement but they chose to kick the can down the road and people are now paying the consequences.”
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Prestige said part of huge increase in costs was down to increases in the national minimum wage. But unions claim care home operators are using the elderly as “cash cows” to generate bumper profits.
The financial chaos at Southern Cross – once Britain’s biggest care home operator – was blamed two years ago for putting “vulnerable people at risk” at one of its former sites in Sussex.
A Government spokesman said: ""It has always been the case that social care is means tested, but help is available for those who cannot afford to pay.
"Landmark Government reforms mean people will not be forced to sell their home to pay for care in their lifetime, will have the same right to care and support no matter where they live in the country, and this year we increased the amount that nursing homes can claim from the NHS to pay for nurses.”
"Our pension reforms have also ensured that those in retirement get guaranteed above-inflation increases with the introduction of the triple lock.”