Councils warned about care charging following Ombudsman complaint – Independent Age Response
Janet Morrison, Chief Executive of Independent Age, said:
“This case highlights many sons and daughters now feel forced to choose between paying extra money for care or thinking about having to help their Mum or Dad move from a home they have lived in for years. Too many families now find themselves paying top-up payments, sometimes amounting to hundreds of pounds a week, for essential care. The root cause of this problem is a residential care system that is chronically under-funded. Families are increasingly having to subsidise local councils to meet the costs of care it is really the responsibility of councils to meet, so we need the Government to protect people from paying unfair ‘top-ups’ as part of their shake-up of the rules from April 2015.”