Dementia wiping out families and their life savings, their houses and lives in the U.K

Northampton, England
February 25, 2024 4:16am CST
In the U.K social care is not free and very expensive, between £600 and 800 per month in state run homes and £1200 plus in private homes,.If your partner or parents get dementia they tend to end up in a care home as they are nearly impossible to care for at your home. As a family effort we did dad some 15-years ago at home and saved moms life savings and house. From 2019 through to 2021 me and my brother did mom, hoping to keep her out of a dementia care home and keep us in the house. it was unbelievably tough to do - Covid, eviction, unemployment and all sorts on top to deal with. We eventually had to put her in a home when she was attacking us most nights or trying to escape the house, completely away with the fairies, late stage dementia. She died recently and her care home bill hit 90 grand. Somehow we pooled our family money together and paid it, saving the house for our new home. Then we had to navigate the so-called 'death tax', 40% of your parents estate over 325k liable for Inheritance tax, punitive fine that was supposed to target the rich , who had ways of hiding money. Lots of money. Now it targets normal families. Us. Moms final estate was 420k. We deducted her 90k care home cost and we fell outside of the requirement for death taxes. but the tax office cant understand how we manged to pay for care without selling our house so are querying our estate valuation. We had to put 20k into mums account over three years just to meet that 90k bill. But get this. If we had cared for mom at home all the way through the last 30 months we would have LOST 40k through inheritance tax and so effectively playing the state to look after our mom . How f**ked up is that. The system of care is broken here. Most families will get wiped out by dementia.
7 people like this
5 responses
@snowy22315 (170131)
• United States
25 Feb
Things are not much better here. The cost of any kind of specialized care is astronomical.
@Kandae11 (53677)
25 Feb
That sounds simply awful. Is there any hope for a better health system?
@RebeccasFarm (86772)
• United States
25 Feb
My God, this is painfully brutal to read. You know same here in this place..wipes people out and really euthanizes the very ill. You can't get sick in this country..no way to climb out of it for anyone. Crushing debt and losing anywhere to lay your head. I am so sorry you suffered like this. The machine working at its finest and specializing in cruelty..another story of pain and suffering. Rest in Peace to your Mum. I wish you the very best.
@wolfgirl569 (95368)
• Marion, Ohio
25 Feb
That sounds similar to here. Many people lose their homes to the state if they need long term care.
@porwest (78759)
• United States
25 Feb
It is a terrible situation. It's not much better here in the U.S., although many insurances including Medicare and Medicaid will help to cover some of the expense of long-term care, but it is sad to see seniors who have done the right thing to save their entire lives for a comfortable retirement only to have it wind up in the hands of care facilities.