People Underestimating Annual Care Home Costs By £17,000
Londoners are in for the biggest shock having underestimated the cost of a nursing home by an average of £33,748 per year – that’s more than the average UK salary
People are underestimating annual nursing home costs by an average of £16,646, a Which? survey has revealed.
In October 2018, Which? reported that, on average, people were underestimating nursing home costs by £12,000 a year. However, the latest nursing-home fee figures across England demonstrate an ever-widening shortfall.
Which? asked people to estimate the cost of a private nursing home place in their region, and it seems that 58% would be in for a bit of a shock, having coming up with a figure that falls well short.
Plus, one in 10 underestimated the cost by £837 a week, or roughly £43,500 a year.
How much have care costs gone up by?
The table below shows average weekly fees of nursing homes in regions across England, and the year-on-year increase.
The worst-affected regions for a jump in care home fees between 2018-19 and 2017-18 are the north-east (11.3%), Yorkshire & Humberside (10.9%) and the north-west (10.4%).
However, the least affected areas – the east of England and the south-east – still saw sizeable jumps (7.7% and 7.9%, respectively).
How much do people underestimate the cost of a nursing home?
Here’s how much money private nursing in a care home costs across the UK, compared with how much people thought it would be – and what this difference amounts to over a year.
Londoners could be in for the biggest shock. They underestimated weekly costs by £649, which works out as £33,748 per year. That’s £4,160 more than the average annual salary for full-time employees in the UK, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.
People in the East Midlands were the closest to reality, underestimating by a still-significant £152 per week.
Which? previously found that only one in 10 adults aged 55 or over say they’ve put aside money to pay for care needs as they get older.
