More than 220,000 people in England are paying the full cost of their own social care under a funding model that makes the country a "stark outlier" compared with most similar nations, experts have warned.
More than 220,000 people in England are paying the full cost of their own social care under a funding model that makes the country a "stark outlier" compared with most similar nations, experts have warned.
Around 137,000 care home residents and more than 83,000 home care users currently fund their own care because they have assets above England's £23,250 means-test threshold, according to a King’s Fund report published today.
The report, Out of sight and out of pocket: how self-funders pay the price for England's unfair social care system, warns that England is one of only a small number of comparable countries where some people are excluded entirely from publicly funded social care and required to meet all costs themselves.
Most countries provide some state support to everyone with eligible care needs, and only use means testing to determine how much people contribute, according to the report, which was produced in collaboration with the Global Observatory of Long-Term Care and academics in Australia, Japan and the Netherlands.
It identifies only three comparable countries - the United States, Cyprus and Wales – which operate systems similar to England.
And it comes as ministers await recommendations from the Casey Commission due next year to develop plans for a National Care Service, including an overhaul of how care is funded.
'Near 100 per cent inheritance tax'
The King's Fund senior fellow Simon Bottery, lead author of the report, said: "Other countries let people into the publicly funded social care system and then use a means test to determine if they should contribute a percentage of the cost.
"But England excludes some people from getting into the publicly funded system entirely and makes them pay all their costs.
“For some, it is a near 100 per cent inheritance tax in all but name. That is unfair and needs to change,” he added.
Mr Bottery said the government's National Care Service ambitions and the Casey Commission created a "long-awaited opportunity" to address the issue.
"As England moves towards creating a National Care Service and awaits the recommendations of the Casey Commission, there is a long-awaited opportunity to tackle the injustice faced by self-funders," he added.
Record funding gap
Responding to the report, Social Care Institute for Excellence director of policy, research and partnerships Deborah Rozansky said increasing numbers of people were being forced to meet care costs themselves as eligibility for state-funded support tightened.
"Those funding their own care can face significantly higher fees than people whose care is arranged by local authorities," she said.
"This is often for the same package of care."
A recent Care England report revealed that the gap between what local authorities pay for older people's residential and nursing care and what it genuinely costs to deliver reached £2.36 bn.
