Care home crisis may force Theresa May to back steep hikes in council tax

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Link: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/care-home-crisis-may-force-theresa-may-back-steep-hikes-council-tax-1595971

The ballooning costs of caring for Britain's ageing population may prompt Theresa May to support big rises in council tax bills, reports suggest.

It is believed that the prime minister is heeding warnings of an "absolute crisis" in social care funding, even though she reportedly stopped Chancellor Phillip Hammond from addressing the issue in his autumn statement in November.

Martin Green, who is chief executive of Care England, representing care home providers, warned that rising demand, cuts to public spending and costs associated with the national living wage have turned the care system into a "house of cards".

He told The Times: "The whole thing could topple over at any moment and those who are poor and vulnerable will suffer most."

Since March 2016, at least 250 residential care homes have closed, with 5,000 beds lost over the past 18 months. The number of days that hospital patients wait on wards for suitable home-care packages has increased by 224% since 2010, the paper reported.

The reason I posted this is because there is a crossover between recent topics here. Amir' Khan's wife has lifted the lid on the problem with extended families. This is the other side of the coin where care homes for the elderly in particular are in crisis due to lack of funding.

Also Brexit has meant that the Eastern Europeans who were previously making up a large number of the staff are not applying for these jobs any more as their future here is in doubt which leaves a massive staffing problem.

 

[Robert]

It will only get worse as the population ages.

Scary prospect.