Families should be told their rights on care funding
Recent analysis forecasts that the UK faces a £1.1 billion shortfall in adult social care funding by 2028-29 — this growing gap presents a significant issue for individuals who rely on care services, local authorities and the wider healthcare system.
Current data indicates that self-funding individuals often pay significantly more for care services than those funded by local authorities. They can be charged twice as much for the same services, highlighting disparities in how care is funded and delivered across different groups. The average weekly cost of a residential care home in the UK now stands at around £1,100 — a rise of more than 20 per cent in five years. For nursing care, the figure is even higher.
Despite the government's recent announcement of an extra £4 billion for social care — which sounds generous — independent analysis has laid bare that it is nowhere near enough. And worse, the burden is quietly being shifted onto those least able to carry it.
This creeping injustice is particularly evident in NHS 'continuing healthcare' decisions. These are supposed to provide fully funded care for individuals with significant health needs. Yet, over the past decade, there's been a 20 per cent drop in the number of people deemed eligible. The criteria have not changed — but the interpretation clearly has.
As budgets tighten, it appears eligibility thresholds are quietly rising. And the cost? Families being wrongly denied funding, pushed into selling homes, draining savings, and often spending six-figure sums on care they should never have paid for.
The government's inability — or unwillingness — to cope with the realities of social care is directly fuelling this crisis. We are watching the slow-motion creation of a two-tier care system. One tier for those who can navigate the bureaucracy and appeal unjust funding decisions. And another for those who, exhausted and overwhelmed, simply pay up because they have no choice.
But families can challenge these decisions — and in many cases, successfully. The problem is, they are rarely told how, or even that they can.
This quiet scandal must be dragged into the light. If you're one of the many families affected, know this: you are not alone, and you may have been wrongly paying for care that should have been funded from the start.
It's time the government stopped balancing the books on the backs of vulnerable families. And it's time more people knew their rights — because reclaiming wrongly paid care fees isn't just about money. It's about justice.Lisa Morgan is a partner at the law firm Hugh James
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