We are approaching a time of great speculation again about a possible Government announcement on the...
We are approaching a time of great speculation again about a possible Government announcement on the way forward on long term care. This stems mainly from its commitment to make an announcement, probably in the form of a White Paper following the summer spending review.
As far as I am aware there is no definite date for the publication of this White Paper, so we ought to keep in mind that "after the summer spending review" could include the rest of this year.
One of the ideas that has been floated in the press recently is the possibility of a loan from the local authority secured against the property of the person in need of care. In effect, the local authority would provide/pay for the care and run up a debt against the family home, recoverable when the person dies. This certainly seems like an interesting idea in theory, but raises a multitude of questions to turn it into practice.
Is it intended that this will apply to home care as well as residential care? If so, is this intended to be a way of collecting more money for home care, which is usually free? In relation to residential care, what exactly is it intended to do, as it cannot make sense to leave houses empty with loans to be repaid on death, or is it intended that the local authority use the home for some other purpose?
If a scheme came into being, would the customer have a choice about 'joining' or, if they wanted the care, would they have to agree to take part? What would happen in practice if someone did not join - is care refused or would they be able to go on to claim income support benefit to pay the care costs? If the scheme extended to domiciliary care, a new anomaly would be introduced in that homeowners would pay for care simply because they have a house, whereas tenants will not pay unless they have a lot of savings. Is this scheme intended to be a way of providing the resource to fund home care services, which local authorities cannot afford to provide to people even if they need them?
Assuming the scheme did pay for home care, just what would it include? Is it personal care only, other domestic help or could the customer choose? Where do they get the money to advance the cost of care and what will be the rate of interest on the loan? Would the loan be subject to the same rules as other loans are? What happens if the debt with or without interest exceeds the value of the home? Would the local authority have to keep providing care even if the debt reached the value of the house?
Would the local authority be expected to monitor debt and house value to keep the customer informed? Would the local authority have the right to demand that the house be maintained properly to protect its security? Would the local authority decide what the customer can have/needs by way of care services or would the customer have an input? Would the local authority let the customer run up a bigger bill if they wanted to, by having extra care services over and above those which are deemed necessary by the local authority? How does this fit with customer choice? Will the local authority lend money for care services, which they do not provide or from providers they do not approve of? If the local authority is paying for care, which it is not providing, who is billed, who checks what, what authorisation does there have to be to charge the customer?
What happens if there are qualifying dependents living in the house as well as the person needing care? What happens if the house is owned by 'tenants in common' - more than one person owns a particular proportion of the value of a house?
There are many more questions which would need to be tackled, but it does seem on the face of it that it would prove to be an administrative nightmare for local authorities.
