Helping your residents pay for their care
Increasing numbers of people have to self-fund their care but there is a lack of information available to people on their funding options. Lack of financial planning can result in self-funders running out of money – and this is a threat to your business. But what can you do about it?
A challenging market
Currently 41% of people in long term care are paying for their own fees and this is projected to continue growing.
Research shows that one of the main sources of information for residents and families is the care home – but that often managers and staff are unsure of what information to give when the subject of funding is raised.
Paying for long term care
Many self-funders pay for their care fees out of the proceeds from the sale of their home. However, we know that only 17% of people self-funding will have received specialist financial advice on how best to use that money.
The average stay in a care home by a self-funder is around 4 years, with a 1 in 8 chance of actually living over 7 years - and the unfortunate result is sometimes that people can very quickly run out of money and have to rely on local authority help.
What impact can this have on you as a care home owner?
Local authorities pay typically up to £100 a week less than self-funders for a similar service – a potentially serious impact on your business’ cash flow. The administration impact can be sizeable too – helping the family, liaising with the local authority and amending records.
Immediate Care Plans
Our Immediate Care Plans can guarantee your residents an income for as long as they live. For a one-off payment, they receive guaranteed income for the rest of their life - tax-free if paid directly to a registered care provider.
The importance of financial advice
While care home proprietors shouldn’t, of course, be offering financial advice, you can help people by pointing them in the right direction and providing them with contacts who will give them the facts they need to enable them to make an informed decision.
We have created a handy booklet to help you provide information when asked by residents and their families. You can
download it here or order copies by
emailing us. Alternatively, you can direct them to organisations listed in our '
Find a care financial adviser' section.