A drop in the ocean...

[Davy51]

It must be a great relief to all working class people like myself who now are only liable for £75000 of contributions to part of the cost of my retirement home when i go into my terminal decline. Where does Dave think  working class people have their money stashed  apart from the value in their houses. Apart from a few exceptions this will affect every household where a member has to go into long term care.

I must say though ,i cannot contain my pleasure that the wealthy of society will still only have to pay the same 75 grand as me & then will  still be left well heeled.

[boris1066]

Make sure that you are penniless when you prepare to climb in to your forever box and your grand kids will pay for your terminal years !!

Absolutely no incentive to save 'owt for Old Age !!

[asperity]

Spend, spend, spend!!!! :lol:

[observer]

Slightly confused by the news reports - a £75,000 cap on care services - then they said, folk in care homes tend to last on average for 2.3 years, which works out at £37k pa?  Then they said, this doesn't apply to food or shelter costs - which can be astronomical. So, no wiser I'm afraid - think Asp has hit the nail on the head - spend it asap!

[inky pete]

Where does Dave think  working class people have their money stashed  apart from the value in their houses.

 

What do you need a house for once you've gone into a home????

 

 

Apart from a few exceptions this will affect every household where a member has to go into long term care.

 

No it won't. If one partner goes into a home while the other doesn't, the house cannot be touched.

 

[Davy51]

Won't the home still want paying though Pete ,or do they get paid by the government who will take their pound of flesh at the appropriate time ?

[Lt Kije]

So you think it is a good idea inky?

[Bazj]

I think if the government insist on making pensioners who have planned for their old age sell their assets that should rightfully go to their kids, it should be made fair....as follows:

 

Anyone who hasn't planned for old age and has lived their lives in taxpayer funded council houses and have nothing to fund their care should have money stopped off their kids.... only fair... why should the frugal lose out while the feckless and can't be arsed brigade live of the fruits of others?

 

the current way is that anyone with assets pays upward of £700.00 a week to live in a council care home. Anyone without assets lives off the £700.00 a week being paid by the other residents. If everyone had to pay it wouldn't cost £700.00 a week!

[Lt Kije]

I am not saying you are wrong Baz, but in a society some people have to do the low paid jobs, they will never be able to save for a pension or old age, so as a society do we right these people off?

 

I don't have any answers, but we should not right the poor hard working off, I assume you want to get at the people that have never worked, I do not have a problem with that, but their a lot of jobs that pay the minimum wage, someone has to do those jobs, people do, do not right off the hard working poor, their are more of them than the wasters

[Bazj]

Kije, my mum worked 2 hours a day as a dinner lady at Bewsey High School and my dad was a driver at Crosfields. They had a pension and bought their own house..... hardly top of the well paid jobs market I'm sure you will agree? They did however have the sense and wherewithall to make plans for their retirement. Unfortunately my dad only got 5 years of it as he died quite young, however my mum was 89 when she died last year and was fully self supporting financially and always had some money for the rainy days that come along!

People will always find an excuse for not saving for their retirement and then expect the rest of society to fund it for them when they get there.... so my plan is make their kids pay for it rather than the other pensioners who have made an effort

[Lt Kije]

Your Mum would have got super Ann as a dinner Lady, Crosfields did they not have a very good pension scheme?, what kind of scheme do you offer your employees? Is it as good as any of the above schemes, or the legal minimum?

 

 

[observer]

Baz, what if they had no kids?!

[inky pete]

I'm not sure why the children of older people seem to think they have a God given right to inherit hundreds of thousands of pounds from their parents - while at the same time declining to take responsibility for their care in old age and expecting the taxpayer to pick up the bill.

 

Under the new rules £123,000 of assets will be completely safe from having to be used to fund care. That's enough of an inheritance for anyone!

[observer]

I agree Inky;  I don't expect a penny from my old man, even if he had it. But 24/7 care is almost impossible for most folk, so some reliance on a community approach is required.  This financially onerous situation will only get bigger in the future as more folk live longer but not in the best of health - bit of time bomb that no politician will touch I'm afraid.

[Mary]

I would give all the money that was left me for one more day with my mother.

[Bazj]

I'm not sure why the children of older people seem to think they have a God given right to inherit hundreds of thousands of pounds from their parents - while at the same time declining to take responsibility for their care in old age and expecting the taxpayer to pick up the bill.

 

Under the new rules £123,000 of assets will be completely safe from having to be used to fund care. That's enough of an inheritance for anyone!

A lot don't Inky.... but a lot of older people think it is THEIR god given right to leave THEIR property to THEIR kids. Not to have that property sold off to pay for something that others don't have to pay for....and what they have already paid for in their taxes as they see it.

[Davy51]

I'm not sure why the children of older people seem to think they have a God given right to inherit hundreds of thousands of pounds from their parents - while at the same time declining to take responsibility for their care in old age and expecting the taxpayer to pick up the bill.

 

Under the new rules £123,000 of assets will be completely safe from having to be used to fund care. That's enough of an inheritance for anyone!

 

So are you saying £123000 is completely safe before the 75 grand has to be paid ? So if you have no more than £123000 ,you don't pay a penny ? I must say it didn't sound like that on the news on Monday.

[observer]

The elephant in the room is the ever rising cost of caring for an increasing number of old folk, as we all live longer, but not necessarilly in good health. Perhaps this more profound moral question needs to be addressed by society, rather than being swept under the carpet?

[Cleopatra]

You mean Soylent Green?

[inky pete]

So are you saying £123000 is completely safe before the 75 grand has to be paid ? So if you have no more than £123000 ,you don't pay a penny ? I must say it didn't sound like that on the news on Monday.

 

Precisely.

 

The first £123,000 of assets will be completely disregarded when assessing how much a person has to contribute to their own care, as will any home where a partner or close family member is still living.

 

And total lifetime old age care bills will be capped at £75,000. Once you've paid that much you'll never have to pay any more no matter what you have left, the government will fund it all for the rest of your life.

 

Of course, people will still have the option of "topping up" the money they'll receive from the government in order to live in a more expensive care home.

[harry hayes]

There isn't a one-stop answer to the question.  However I have been a fairly miserable non-spender for too many years.  I believe I DO have a God given right to give my money  to the family - that's what i saved it for - so their struggles wouldn't be as bad as mine were in early days.

 

Also love Mary's comment about her mother.

 

Happy days

[observer]

But H, that's what "means tested" benefits are all about - paying for yourself IF you can afford it. IF you wan't a universal care system, "free" at the point of need, then you'll be paying a lot more tax & NI throughout your lifetime of struggle, assuming of course, you had/ have a job!

[Davy51]

Precisely.

 

The first £123,000 of assets will be completely disregarded when assessing how much a person has to contribute to their own care, as will any home where a partner or close family member is still living.

 

And total lifetime old age care bills will be capped at £75,000. Once you've paid that much you'll never have to pay any more no matter what you have left, the government will fund it all for the rest of your life.

 

Of course, people will still have the option of "topping up" the money they'll receive from the government in order to live in a more expensive care home.

 

 

That £123,000 must have eluded me Pete !

[inky pete]

Taxes can only pay for CURRENT expenditure - at CURRENT levels of provision - so the argument that people who have paid in all their lives should get everything for free for the rest of their lives doesn't really apply.

 

If people want protection from the future then they should buy insurance, not simply rely on levels of tax-funded provision remaining the same or far better than they were when they started paying their taxes.

 

And of course people have a right to leave THEIR money to THEIR own families - once they've paid THEIR OWN way through life as far as they are able to. My objection is to people who expect other taxpayers to provide and fund the care their elderly relatives need, and then still expect to inherit huge sums of money from them.

[Davy51]

But H, that's what "means tested" benefits are all about - paying for yourself IF you can afford it. IF you wan't a universal care system, "free" at the point of need, then you'll be paying a lot more tax & NI throughout your lifetime of struggle, assuming of course, you had/ have a job!

 

Maybe there will come a time ,if the tax system & benefit  system are sorted out so it isn't the wrong people who are picking up the benefits by being better off not working, that more money will be available for pension & later life funding. It is very frustrating though to pay mega tax & insurance for what you perceive will be a better future for you & your family only to see your Utopia crumble into dust.