A Conversation of Will

Tom is currently on placement with Anchor Care Group at the Silk Court Residence in Bethnal Green

With the general election looming and the issue of social care very much in the eye of the storm, I seldom find myself not contemplating personal, professional and political uncertainty. There is something quite profound about holding these uncertainties in mind whilst I’m on my placement, caring for the same people every day who, after 3 months, are still uncertain of my name.

Silk Court, Bethanl Green

One evening last week this provoked me to ask my mother:

What’s going to happen when your parents need care?

Understandably this question was met with avoidance.

Working in a care home has helped me appreciate the accrual of transitions we go through in a lifetime. More than that, it has shown me the resilience required to be a full-time carer and the resilience required by someone after making the decision to place a loved one in a care home. The latter is something that I am sure has always been emotionally demanding and with the current political uncertainty, the issue of money is now more pertinent than ever. With the backdrop of the general election, I find myself looking at residents with more compassion, not just for the amount of money their care costs, but for their uncertain financial future and their families.

To put this into context, residents usually pay around £600 per week if they are funded by their local authority, which means they must have less than £23,250 in savings/assets etc. If they are privately funded, meaning they have more than £23,250 in savings/assets etc, they pay £900+ per week.

After researching the topic further, I found out that elderly people are transferring ownership of their home to their children. This is happening for three main reasons these days, all clear indicators of the world we live in today:

1. To avoid overpaying for care, particularly as the house is often the only significant asset we invest in over decades
2. To avoid inheritance tax — With houses being worth more now, this is a bigger issue than it was a generation ago
3. High house prices — parents understandably want to help their kids get set up

Okay, fair enough, it’s a bit naughty, but I understand the reasoning. However, I then went on to discover that if the house is signed over, but the homeowner dies within seven years of signing over the deed, it is nullified and the house is still inheritance taxable. I think I would spin in my grave if a considerable chunk of my house was taxed rather than passed down to my family, who may need it.

Or would I? Maybe the seven-year rule is fair.

I had gone down the rabbit hole of politics and social care, how it is funded, and how that bodes for my family and my future. I was staggered at how I was looking at people, making calculations as though people were sums, a weekly outlay multiplied by 52, depreciating at a yearly rate of however many pounds.

And so I remain in a juxtapose by the beautifully unfair, emotionally demanding world of social care, and the financial demands that go along with it. I do believe there will be a change in perspective between my mother’s generation and mine, with money ever tightening and the population ever ageing. The price of care in real terms will be something that swings parliament for generations.