Care Home Price Hikes Overtake Pensioner Income Growth

New research by Prestige Nursing + Care will show the annual cost of a care home has increased by over £700 over the past year: more than twice the income gains enjoyed by pensioners over the same period.

The average cost of a single room in a residential care home is now approaching £29,400: more than double the average pensioner’s income. This leaves anyone needing to pay for residential care needing to tackle an income shortfall of £290 a week.

Other key findings include:

· The income vs. care home cost gap amounts to nearly 106% of the average pensioner’s income

· The annual growth rate of care costs has more than doubled from 1.1% in 2013-14 and is far higher than the current zero rate of inflation

· East of England has overtaken the South East as the most expensive region for care and is also where costs have risen the most in the last year

· The North East is the only region where care costs have fallen over the last year

· Three southern regions have seen care home costs grow faster than house prices.