In the past week I have attended two conferences, one as a memberof the Professional Finance Society (PFS) and today the National Conference of Later Life Advice. The latter provided an opportunity to hear what the Chief Executive of a Local Authority expected the future of care provision to look like in his patch.
The only real surprise was that the public generally are unaware of the changes to how care is to be delivered, by personal care accounts rather than by a centralised and imposed solution.
Now, for me and for those clients that I have had the privilege to advise, that’s a welcome change. The less welcome bit is the fact that the care fee cap has been deferred until 2020, meaning that most people currently needed or receiving care will no longer be with us by the time the cap is introduced.
The big message, however was that the cross subsidy, which is currently largely unnoticed, that is destined to become very obvious.
What do I mean by cross subsidy? : the fact that local authority funded care places cost less than places paid for by direct payers and care fees for direct payers are therefore being inflated.
My experience with clients who are funding their own care but doing it through the local authority, are being surcharged for the privilege. Going direct, organising the contract and negotiating your own terms is often cheaper and delivers better outcomes.
Talk to me if you want more information in this area.
http://info.oliff.info/?p=1611