Over Half Of Population Not Planning For Old Age
An investigation into the care sector by a leading law firm has revealed that more than half of people in Sussex are failing to plan financially for their old age.
The research by Rix & Kay Solicitors was conducted with the help of 80 care home owners and managers.
They were asked their opinions on a range of topics, including what they felt are the key issues facing their businesses, the care sector and their residents. The business climate, funding and what residents themselves considered most important were also discussed.
The research indicated that 42 per cent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that if a resident loses capacity they are confident that their residents’ financial affairs are in order and their fees can be paid.
Due to the Government’s strategy to keep people in their own homes for longer, on average people are in care for two to three years, as oppose to the previous timeframe of five to seven years. However, this means that they are likely to be frailer when they do go into a care home.
The results also showed that there is significant concern about how to access help with funding and 69% of respondents felt that people didn’t have a good understanding of local authority funding, with 63% thinking the same of NHS funded care.
Richard Bates heads up the Later Life team at Rix & Kay, which specialises in advising clients on wealth planning, later life planning, elder abuse and the administration and management of financial affairs.
He said: “End of life care plans need to be better and more widely understood and broached with the resident and their families long before they need to go into care. People are not doing enough to plan for their later years and part of the problem is that death is a taboo subject. This means care providers are having to fund residents’ accommodation until the first payment is made by their local authority.
“In addition, care providers are being forced to help residents play catch up in arranging their finances. The situation will only get worse as we’re expecting to see a 100 per cent increase in the number of people aged 65 and above in the next 20 years.”
An investigation into the care sector by a leading law firm has revealed that more than half of people in Sussex are failing to plan financially for their old age.
The research by Rix & Kay Solicitors was conducted with the help of 80 care home owners and managers.
They were asked their opinions on a range of topics, including what they felt are the key issues facing their businesses, the care sector and their residents. The business climate, funding and what residents themselves considered most important were also discussed.
The research indicated that 42 per cent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that if a resident loses capacity they are confident that their residents’ financial affairs are in order and their fees can be paid.
Due to the Government’s strategy to keep people in their own homes for longer, on average people are in care for two to three years, as oppose to the previous timeframe of five to seven years. However, this means that they are likely to be frailer when they do go into a care home.
The results also showed that there is significant concern about how to access help with funding and 69% of respondents felt that people didn’t have a good understanding of local authority funding, with 63% thinking the same of NHS funded care.
Richard Bates heads up the Later Life team at Rix & Kay, which specialises in advising clients on wealth planning, later life planning, elder abuse and the administration and management of financial affairs.
He said: “End of life care plans need to be better and more widely understood and broached with the resident and their families long before they need to go into care. People are not doing enough to plan for their later years and part of the problem is that death is a taboo subject. This means care providers are having to fund residents’ accommodation until the first payment is made by their local authority.
“In addition, care providers are being forced to help residents play catch up in arranging their finances. The situation will only get worse as we’re expecting to see a 100 per cent increase in the number of people aged 65 and above in the next 20 years.”
