Older people’s charity Independent Age has called for families to be given better advice and information on care home top-up fees.
The charity said many families paid hundreds of pounds a week to top-up the cost of their loved one’s care home place ‘without ever realising that it’s unnecessary and that it’s the responsibility of the council to fully fund the place’.
Last week in Parliament former care minister Paul Burstow said there was ‘mounting evidence of confusion and rule breaking over the application of top-up fees by local authorities’.
Chief executive of Independent Age, Janet Morrison, said: ‘We strongly welcome a debate on the worrying issue of top-up fees from care homes.
‘These are meant to allow families to pay extra for care above a basic standard but many families are, in fact, paying for basic care that it is really the responsibility of the council to meet.
‘Though councils are supposed to check that families really want to pay extra, most councils don’t even know the true number of top-up fee agreements in their area.’
