Achi news desk-
One man, whose 82-year-old mother has developed dementia and has been living in McKillop for around seven years, said it came like “a bolt from the blue”.
READ MORE:
He said: “There was no advance warning from the council. No consultation.
“We received the letter unannounced on the Saturday of the Easter weekend, and it stated that the bank’s direct debit was going to change from April 9.
“There was no time to do anything about it, and of course you couldn’t get hold of anyone in the council because it was the bank holiday weekend.
“There has been no apology for the lack of communication, or the fact that that type of timetable would cause problems for families.
“They more than double what people are paying, and you have to have funding in place to get money in people’s bank accounts for the first payment.”
The man, who did not want to be identified for fear of repercussions for his mother, stressed that McKillop was a “great facility” and had expected fees to rise due to energy prices and inflation.
However, he was surprised by the scale of the progress. His mother had been paying around £577 a week, and in the past fees had risen around 4-5% a year.
She is among 42 “self-funded” residents living in the five council-operated care homes in South Lanarkshire – two of which are due to close later this year under cost-cutting measures.
Care home residents in Scotland with savings, property or investments of more than £35,000 are required to pay the full costs of their place in a care home, while those with capital under £21,500 are paid by the local authority .
Over the past decade, the amount charged to self-funders compared to council-funded residents has widened, leading to accusations that more affluent older people are being unfairly used to “maintain” the poor care sector.
Members of the South Lanarkshire Integrated Joint Board – which oversees health and social care in the region – voted in March to close McClymont House in Lanark and Dewar House in Hamilton despite overwhelming local opposition.
The closure is expected to ensure savings of £1.5m a year in the face of a £19.5m shortfall in its adult social care budget this year, and a £9m project shortfall in 2025/26.
The Scottish Government has rejected pleas to step in with emergency money despite the homes’ high grades from inspectors.
The resident’s son McKillop said the 42 who fund themselves are being asked “to fill the black hole” in the council’s finances.
He added: “It’s the victimization of the most vulnerable people in society. Most of the people in these care homes are mentally incapacitated – they don’t understand what’s going on.
“It is very easy for the council to go ‘we will take the money from them’.”
A second woman, whose 93-year-old mother – who has lived in McKillop for three years with dementia, is partially blind, and is deaf – said her weekly payments had risen by 130%, from £529 previously.
She said she had to “jump through hoops” with the bank to ensure that enough money was transferred on time after receiving the letter from the council on Good Friday.
He said: “There was no advance warning. At first I thought it must be a mistake, because there were no figures to explain why it was going up so much or what it was being spent on.
“It feels like ‘we’ve got this black hole, and your Mum is going to help fill it’. It was awful.”
The woman, who also asked not to be named, said her parents had “scrounged and saved” to buy their house and it would “kill” her mother to know it had been sold to fund her care home .
He added: “It was the last thing she wanted. I have no complaints about McKillop – they are absolutely brilliant.
“It’s a beautiful place, the staff are great. But she’s just a poor soul, and there’s nothing else we can do.”
Council-run buildings have tended to charge much less than private care homes, but South Lanarkshire Council said it could no longer afford to subsidize these lower fees.
As of 2022, the average pay for a self-funded resident without nursing care in South Lanarkshire was £911 a week, suggesting that council rates are – so far – well behind those charged by private households.
The council says the true cost of providing its in-house residential care is £1,469.73 a week, which equates to just over £1,221 once the free personal care allowance of £248.70 is deducted.
A council spokesman said the increase in fees comes “against a backdrop of unprecedented financial challenges” which means the council “no longer has the funding available to provide the same number and level of services provided in previous years”.
He added: “Although the council regrets the need to increase charges across services, we as an organization must reflect our charges based on the true cost of providing the current service.
“In terms of how this charge is raised individually, each resident’s financial circumstances are considered through a Financial Assessment to ensure that these charges do not lead to financial hardship based on the income available to them .
“As part of the implementation of the revised charge, all affected residents have been offered the opportunity to have their circumstances reviewed, through a financial reassessment.
“Residents and relatives will be actively involved in this process.”
The Herald also contacted other council areas around Scotland to ask what was happening to fees in their areas.
Several local authorities – including Stirling, Inverclyde, East Dunbartonshire, North Lanarkshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Moray, and Aberdeen – no longer have any council care homes.
- Fifewhich has eight of the council’s care homes, said it had set a 5% rise this year but was charging council-funded and self-funding residents the same fees.
- Highlandwhich currently has 14 of the council’s care homes in operation, whose fees for 2024/25 will be considered at a meeting of its Adult Social Care Fees Group later this month.
- Glasgowwhich has five of the council’s care homes, has increased its standard fees from £704 to £739 and from £1,023 to £1,074 for residents who need dementia care, but charges the same amount to residents funded by the council and is self-financing.
- North Ayrshire operates one council care home – Montrose House on the Isle of Arran. In 2023/24, self-funding residents will be charged between £719.50 and £1312.50 per week depending on their capital levels and care needs. This has increased by around 5% to between £825.94-£1,378 per week in 2024/25.
- East Lothian, which has two council-run residential care homes and one nursing home operated by its health and social care partnership (HSCP), has not yet set its fees for 2024/25. However, it rose between £1,117 and £1,318 a week last year for self-funding residents.
- In Falkirkwhich has four council care homes, charges have risen by 8.5% from £978 to £1061 a week, while East Renfrewshire – who have one council care home – have increased by 4.4%, from £874 to £913.
- West Dunbartonshire The council said it had agreed to raise fees by 10% due to a £17m budget gap in 2024/25. As a result, fees for self-funders at his two aged care homes have gone from £1,161 to £1,277.
- West Lothian, which has three council care homes for older people, has said it has updated its fees in line with national guidelines that local authorities should charge “an amount equivalent to the full cost of providing the accommodation”. This has resulted in fees for self-funding residents increasing by 32%, from £739 to £976 per week, once the free personal care allowance is included. For existing residents who self-fund their care, the increase will be spread over a two-year period.
A spokesman for West Lothian Council said the revised care home payments will “[support] the future sustainability of social care services at a time of significant increase in care demands and resource pressures”.
