New figures reveal postcode lottery of home care costs

2010-05-06 09:19:02

A survey by consumer group Which? has found that the weekly cost of home care vary dramatically by local authority area in England. The cost of receiving personal care – help with basic tasks such as washing and dressing – at home varies from £60 per week in Barnsley to £850 per week in Brighton. Meanwhile, residents in Newham, a London borough, receive the same care for free. The problem stems partly from the fact that some local authorities have a cap on the weekly amount they can charge for home care, whilst others have a free rein. Also, due to budgetary constraints, some councils have raised their eligibility criteria for free home care so that only people with the most critical needs qualify, despite government guidance stating that care should be ‘...readily available to those who need it, whatever their means.’ A Which? spokesperson commented on the research findings: ‘The cost of receiving care in your own home has become an unfair postcode lottery in recent years. In some cases, people living just a few miles from each other can be paying wildly different amounts.’

Until recently, a similar situation existed in Wales, leading to the introduction of the Social Care Charging Measure which caps the weekly amount that local authorities can charge for home care.

In England, Labour’s delayed Personal Care at Home Bill could result in free home care for up to 400,000 of the country’s most vulnerable people as well as introducing new guidance for local authority eligibility criteria – potentially ending the postcode lottery. However, whether or not the Bill is introduced depends on the results of the forthcoming General Election.