Public underestimate annual care home costs by almost £17,000 a year

The price the public think it costs to live in a nursing home falls far short of the reality, with people on average underestimating the annual cost by £16,646.

A poll by consumer charity Which? asked the public to estimate the cost of a private nursing home place in their local area and found the majority of people – 58 per cent – gave a figure that was dramatically lower than the actual cost.

One in 10 people underestimated the cost by a whopping £43,500 a year (£837 a week).

Expectations vs Reality

The public’s expectations of costs versus the reality was revealed by new private nursing home fee figures for England.

Londoners were in for the greatest surprise, as they thought a nursing home place would cost £735 a week – well short of the £1,384 a week charged on average.

This means Londoners underestimated the cost by £33,769 a year - a figure that is higher than the average annual UK salary, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Populus conducted the online poll for Which? by asking 2,074 people in the UK between 16-17 May last year.

This poll data was compared with nursing home fees paid by self-funders revealed by a survey of nursing homes by LaingBuisson.

Which? has produced an online cost of care calculator tool to help people find out about care home fees in their local area and eligibility for local authority support at www.which.co.uk/costofcare .

Nearly half a million people in the UK live in a care home and around half of these fund themselves (self-funders) and the other half receive some local authority funding.

The amount you pay towards your care will depend on where you live in the UK.

If you live in England and Northern Ireland and have assets of more than £23,250, you will have to pay the full cost of your care and are referred to as a self-funder.

In Scotland, it is £28,000 and in Wales, the threshold is £50,000 Anyone with capital below these amounts will qualify for some financial support. In England and Northern Ireland if you have capital below £14,250 you should get maximum support.

In Scotland, you need to have capital below £17,500 to be eligible for maximum support and in Wales, anyone with capital under £50,000 will receive fully funded care from the local authority.

To find out more about care home fees, who pays for what for a care home place and more visit carehome.co.uk's Advice section