People in Sussex being wiped out financially by care bills
They had to fall on their council for support
People aged 65 and over in Sussex are being wiped out financially by care bills.
Figures suggest, for example, that more than 200 older people across East Sussex and Brighton and Hove fell on their local council for support over just two years after having their savings largely wiped out through paying for care.
Care groups hit out at Prime Minister Boris Johnson's failure to detail long-promised social care reforms in the recent Queen’s Speech, which could reportedly include a cap on costs – first proposed a decade ago – to avoid people having to sell their homes to pay for care.
Currently, anyone with assets or savings worth £23,250 or more has to pay the full cost of their care.
People with less than that, but more than £14,250, have to pay a contribution to care costs, while the council will cover the full bill if someone's capital falls below this threshold.
NHS Digital data shows that in East Sussex, around 180 people were classified as "self-funders with depleted funds" – those who had to fall back on council support after exhausting their assets paying for care – in the year to March 31, 2020.
In Brighton and Hove, that number was 30, while no figures were reported for West Sussex.
Across England, some 10,800 over-65s requested local authority support for care costs over the same period after running down their savings and assets.
There were around 25,050 new requests for local authority support for people aged 65 and over in West Sussex in 2019-20, 21,275 in East Sussex and 3,640 in Brighton and Hove.
The Queen confirmed proposals for social care reform will be brought forward as she set out the Government’s legislative agenda on Tuesday (11 May), but no further detail was given.
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said it was an important step forward despite the lack of a clear plan:
"Ministers have made it clear that they see a cap on sky high care costs as the centrepiece of their reforms, because it is so evidently unfair for anyone to be financially ruined by long term care bills.
"However, this is not the only unfairness in how care operates today, and it would be a bizarre outcome if we gave more protection to homeowners, while leaving those with fewer assets to the current underfunded system.
"There is no avoiding the need for the Government to invest billions more into care - topping council budgets back up again after having allowed them to fall so disastrously over the last decade."
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman previously said:
"Improving the adult social care system remains a priority for this government and we will bring forward proposals later this year to ensure everyone is treated with dignity and respect.
"Throughout the pandemic we have provided almost £1.8 billion in specific funding for adult social care including infection prevention and control measures."