BBC News Families hide their wealth to avoid care home costs

[Countdown]

We’ll have to agree to disagree on the “Paid in vs taken out” debate. IIRC stats show that, on average, the majority of people pay less in tax than they consume in public services.

For me the question is more about self-reliance vs reliance on the State. The State guarantees a basic level of care for those people that cannot afford it. Manipulating your assets so that it appears to the LA that you fall into this group is no different IMHO to benefit fraud. Sorry if that sounds harsh.

If people think that elderly care should be a Universal benefit, free for all on retirement, that’s a different question.

[heebeegeetee]

Derek Smith said:

The Lewisham main line railway was closed and there was a local evacuation.

SEE?!! See what the scrounging bd cost us?!!!

[Countdown]

heebeegeetee said:

i can easily put a name to a couple of dozen people in their late seventies and '80s. They all worked hard all their lives, but own what they do through living frugally. I can name a good few people who worked hard all their lives but did not enjoy much retirement.

So can I (my mum dad being two of them). Mum's getting on a bit with arthritis and various other ailments. It may well be that she needs to go into a home at some point but I think it would be wrong on 2 counts to try and hide her assets from the LA (1) Its morally wrong (2)I would be ashamed that she was in a basic LA home just to make her children/grandchildren financially better off

heebeegeetee said:

I struggle to put a name to any hard working young people. I can give names of plenty of young people still living at home. I can name youngsters who have a had a bloody good education but no prospective employment. Despite not working these youngsters have cars and phones and computers and all manner of lifestyle that was unimaginable to working people 50 years ago.

Whereas I can think of lots.
My eldest will be graduating from Uni this year and has worked P/T at Asda to pay for her studies
One nephew who has also studied and worked whilst at uni
One nephew who left school at 16 and has just bought his first BTL at age 20.
One nephew who is training to be a mechanic as well as owning a part share in a business aged 19.

Just to clarify I can think of quite a few scrotes but most are trying their best in difficult circumstances.

[cymtriks]

Why all these post about how awful care homes are?

The MIL is in a state run one and she's fine.

She doesn't want "activities", she wants to sit down.
She doesn't want to move closer to us so we don't visit often (because we can't)
She doesn't have any hobbies
She can't learn anything new
She likes the roast dinners and cakes which she didn't have much of when she was on her own
She's not going to get better and neither are the other residents but what do you expect at her age?

The last point seems to cover most of the "homes are awful" comments.

None of the homes we looked at really offered anything extra except for a slightly nicer building and activities.

Some of the nicest places, including one close to where we live so we could actually vist a bit more often, she turned down.

So she's in a state run home a long way away.

What else can we do? What else would be better given the restrictions she puts on herself?

[Tiggsy]

seems some people want scenes from Cocoon!

[scdan4]

Derek Smith said:

As an aside, when my uncle died I had to clear his house out. We went into one room and found a cupboard with munitions in it. Parabellums, ammunition, live anti-aircraft shells, hand grenades (about half a dozen I think, all with primers, one was a German WWI kind with sorts of tassles on it) and incindiary devices, lots of them. In fact a wardrobe full, plus, as we found out later, a chest of drawers full as well.

friends dad did this - ex army artillery type who during his term of service had acquired a lot of munitions etc and merrily kept them in the roof of his house in the middle of bath.

Refused to move for years, despite it clearly being the sensible thing to do. Finally had to come clean about why he wouldn't move to his daughters.

There was literally tons of the stuff! Imagine if he'd ever had a house fire...

[Derek Smith]

scdan4 said:

friends dad did this - ex army artillery type who during his term of service had acquired a lot of munitions etc and merrily kept them in the roof of his house in the middle of bath.

Refused to move for years, despite it clearly being the sensible thing to do. Finally had to come clean about why he wouldn't move to his daughters.

There was literally tons of the stuff! Imagine if he'd ever had a house fire...

The driver of our firearms unit van had precons for setting off explosives and possession of munitions. After the war he 'collected' live ammo, broke it open and made his own fireworks and smoke bombs. He made some sort of rocket engine that crashed on a railway line and the police nicked him, took him home and searched his room. He kept it all under his bed.

Sensible lad.

When he joined the police after a very auspicious time in the paras, including being parchuted into Egypt during the Crisis and then having to make his way out without being seen, he told them of his recons and the panel just ignored it. Excellent chap, fabulous to work with and the best driver of a van I've ever ridden with. I'd go into any rest home he was in. One Flew Over wouldn't hold a candle.

[Deva Link]

Countdown said:

We’ll have to agree to disagree on the “Paid in vs taken out” debate. IIRC stats show that, on average, the majority of people pay less in tax than they consume in public services.

That's correct, but it gets complicated when VAT and duty on fuel and alcohol etc is taken into account. The Government only gets about a third of its revenue from personal taxation.