Average cost of a care home now more than £29,000 a year

Average care home costs have shown a dramatic rise in the last year, as shown in data released today by Prestige Nursing + Care.

From 2014–15 care costs were found to rise by 2.5 per cent (equating to a rise of £723), considerably higher than the 1.1 per cent of 2013–14, while alarmingly higher than the rise of pension incomes for the first time, which stands at 2.2 per cent.

Managing director of Prestige Nursing + Care, Jonathan Bruce, said: “Care home prices are rising faster than ever, outstripping the rate of increase in pensioner incomes for the first time in three years. This is particularly concerning in light of the decision to defer the Care Cap until 2020. It means more people needing residential care will have to bear the brunt of higher costs themselves, especially as council cuts to care continue to impact eligibility for financial support.

“Raising the minimum wage – while absolutely necessary and well-deserved by nurses and care workers – will undoubtedly push up the costs of a care home even further, and widen the massive gap between people’s income in later life and the sums needed to pay for residential care.

“For those with emerging care needs, care at home can often prove to be far more cost-effective than residential care. It also allows people to remain in the comfort in their own home and maintain a sense of independence for longer. The issue of paying for care in later life is a ticking time-bomb that needs to be addressed and alternative solutions such as home care should be considered as a fundamental part of the solution.”

North–South divide

According to the Prestige + Care research, the average annual cost for a room in a care home now exceeds £29,000, which is double the average pensioner’s income of £14,300 and means that older adults with care needs face a shortfall of £15,089 (£290 a week) to overcome if they wish to source residential care provision.

When looking at the regional picture, the figures show that the highest and fastest growing care home costs are in the East of England, which has overtaken the South East for the first time. Here care home costs have reached £33,800, as opposed to £24,232, which is the lowest, in the North East.

Mr Bruce continues, “There are huge discrepancies in the amount people across the UK are required to pay for care, with some regions’ pensioners facing a much greater shortfall to overcome than others. There is a clear North–South divide where the South appears particularly hard hit, facing shortfalls of £18,000 plus, despite the commonly held view that those in the South have more money to spend.

“Rising prices, an ageing population and cuts to funding all contribute to the challenge of paying for care. But for many, long-term care will become a reality and the widening gap between costs and income needs to be addressed. We must create greater awareness of the need to plan for the cost of care early on in life, to avoid a situation where the elderly are forced to rely heavily on family members or unpaid carers for support.”

Davina Ludlow, director of carehome.co.uk, says: “What today’s research shows is just how vital it is that funding given to care providers by local authorities reflects the true cost of delivering the outstanding care that residents deserve.

“Care home and home care workers do such a valuable and important job and will often be the sole source of companionship and support for the older and disabled people they care for.

“High quality care is not something that can be delivered ‘on the cheap’, and often as a result, care homes find themselves forced to charge privately funded residents more in order to subsidise the fees paid by local authority-funded residents.

“We want the government to stop prevaricating over adult social care funding as it is vulnerable people who are bearing the brunt of it.

“The Care Cap offered hope to many older people but the recent announcement of a delay has left them unable to plan for their future.

“More needs to be done as it is unacceptable that hardworking people have to pay over the odds for their care."