Long Term Care

Inheritance Tax is, of course, tax on your estate after your death - but what if you fall ill in your old age and require care? What happens then?

With one in four men and one in three women needing some kind of care by the time they are 65, and one in seven needing residential care, as a nation we are living longer and the residential care population is growing.

What if it was you or your partner in need of care? Well, if we use an example where the estate is over £500,000 and one of the partners needed full time care, even if the estate was divided equally, each partner would have assets of approximately £250,000. Current legislation means that with assets of more than £18,000, you would have to pay for your own care (excluding medical care).

In this situation you would have to meet full care costs (the average nursing home in Greater London being £25,584* per annum). Taking into account the married couples' basic State pension for 2000/2001 of £6,026.80, the couple would have to have private pensions / incomes of over £19,500 net (after tax) just to meet care home costs. This is not taking into account the living costs of the remaining partner (rates, utilities, food, entertainment). If these costs could not be met the couple would have to start to realise their assets to cover the cost .

In 5 years over £130,000 (taking inflation into account) would be required to cover care costs. The local authority will not help towards the cost of this care and the estate that you had carefully built up over your life could soon be eaten up in Long Term Care costs, leaving very little for the surviving partner or descendants.

For more information on these matters or advice on how to safeguard against Long Term Care costs, we can provide Independent Financial Advice. If you wish to know more about Long Term Care, or have any questions, please contact us via the questions section of our secure enquiry form. IT COSTS NOTHING TO ASK AND THERE IS NO OBLIGATION.

*Laing and Buisson Market survey 2000 Average Nursing home costs per annum for Greater London.

Lewkay Financial Services
3c Sopwith Crescent, Hurricane Way, Wickford SS11 8YU
* Tel: 01268 762200 * FAX: 01268 762292

Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority