Blitz on families who 'avoid' care home fees

• Councils investigating residents who try to conceal property wealth
• Inspectors with councils have legal power to go after suspects
• Signing over a home to a child see parents avoid care home fees
  
• Parents who are caught by inspectors risk having to sell up

Councils are spying on parents who sign over their homes to their children to avoid care home fees.
Local authority inspectors are rifling through residents’ financial records to see if they deliberately tried to conceal their property wealth. If they uncover evidence that parents gave their home away as a ploy to escape care bills, they can use little-known powers to force the family to sell the property and pay up. One council, Buckinghamshire, confirmed its inspectors were making such investigations. Leading charity Age UK is so concerned at the number of families trying to avoid care fees it has published guidelines warning of the pitfalls in signing over property. It warns that families may be embarking on a risky act, saying that budget-conscious councils are ‘likely to look at cases’ where they think ‘deprivation of assets may have taken place’. Last night campaigners for the elderly said the ‘grey area’ of the law meant many families could be vulnerable to losing homes already signed over......Read more here