Debt with Disability News Articles

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[B]'Personally I think its SICK[/B]' [B]personally I agree with you [/B]

[mrsinvisible]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

The whole 'royal' issue is sick. The tax system stinks, and when both of them are mentioned in the same article I feel sickened at their moral bankruptcy.

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

On tonight BBC 8:30

[url="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01qgk9h"]BBC One - Panorama, The Great Disability Scam? [/url]

[5corpio]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[CENTER][B]Families crippled by care fees face losing out because NHS is failing to promote scheme that allows them to claim back costs[/B]
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Health trusts in Britain have been accused of failing to publicise a compensation scheme that allows elderly people to claim back tens of thousands of pounds they were wrongly charged in care home fees. Solicitors Farley Dwek believes the NHS is doing the bare minimum to communicate its Continuing Healthcare Fund that allows care home residents who qualify to recoup backdated care home fees they should not have been charged. The final deadline for claims relating to the period from April 2011 to March 2012 is on March 31, and Farley Dwek has slammed primary care trusts for hiding the policy amid the countless pages on their websites.....[URL="http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-2271350/NHS-failing-promote-scheme-allows-elderly-claim-crippling-care-home-costs.html"][B]Read more here[/B][/URL]

[5corpio]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[CENTER][B]MPs criticise disability benefits tests[/B]
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MPs have criticised the test being used to see whether people claiming disability benefits are fit to work. The Public Accounts Committee said the Work Capability Assessment had resulted in too many wrong decisions which were overturned on appeal. Its chair Margaret Hodge accused the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) of being "unduly complacent" and of hurting the "most vulnerable". But employment minister Mark Hoban accused the MPs of "scaremongering". The Work Capability Assessment tests was introduced in 2008 to assess entitlement to Employment and Support Allowance, after it was claimed the old system was failing. The company Atos was paid £112.4m to carry out 738,000 assessments in 2011/12......[URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21376915"][B]Read more here[/B][/URL]

[5corpio]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[CENTER][B]£75,000 cap on cost of care will lose thousands of pensioners their homes[/B]
[/CENTER]

A chief architect of plans to limit the cost of long-term care has criticised ministers for setting the cap so high that thousands of pensioners will have to sell their homes. Lord Warner is warning that if a husband and wife both move into care, they could have to pay £150,000 before the state steps in – wiping out almost the entire value of an average house. The peer sat on the Dilnot Commission, which aimed to safeguard elderly people’s houses by imposing a cap of about £35,000 – after which the state will meet care costs. But ministers are expected to announce next week that they will set the cap much higher than that. It has been widely reported that the cap could be as high as £75,000. There were rumours yesterday, however, that the final level to be announced on Monday may be lower – £60,000, uprated by inflation in future years.....[URL="http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article-2275985/75-000-cap-cost-care-lost-thousands-pensioners-homes.html"][B]Read more here[/B][/URL]

[5corpio]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[QUOTE=5corpio;288818][CENTER][B]£75,000 cap on cost of care will lose thousands of pensioners their homes[/B]
[/CENTER]

A chief architect of plans to limit the cost of long-term care has criticised ministers for setting the cap so high that thousands of pensioners will have to sell their homes. Lord Warner is warning that if a husband and wife both move into care, they could have to pay £150,000 before the state steps in – wiping out almost the entire value of an average house. The peer sat on the Dilnot Commission, which aimed to safeguard elderly people’s houses by imposing a cap of about £35,000 – after which the state will meet care costs. But ministers are expected to announce next week that they will set the cap much higher than that. It has been widely reported that the cap could be as high as £75,000. There were rumours yesterday, however, that the final level to be announced on Monday may be lower – £60,000, uprated by inflation in future years.....[URL="http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article-2275985/75-000-cap-cost-care-lost-thousands-pensioners-homes.html"][B]Read more here[/B][/URL][/QUOTE]
[B]Long-term social care: Options for self-funders[/B]

Hundreds of people enter the care system every week in England, but there are concerns that few are ready for the expense. At present, people with assets of more than £23,000, often including the value of their home, do not get any help in paying for.....[B]AAD Blog: [URL="http://forums.all-about-debt.co.uk/blog.php?bt=2248"]£75,000 cap on cost of care will lose thousands of pensioners their homes - allaboutFORUMS[/URL][/B]

[5corpio]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[QUOTE=5corpio;288818][CENTER][B]£75,000 cap on cost of care will lose thousands of pensioners their homes[/B]
[/CENTER]

A chief architect of plans to limit the cost of long-term care has criticised ministers for setting the cap so high that thousands of pensioners will have to sell their homes. Lord Warner is warning that if a husband and wife both move into care, they could have to pay £150,000 before the state steps in – wiping out almost the entire value of an average house. The peer sat on the Dilnot Commission, which aimed to safeguard elderly people’s houses by imposing a cap of about £35,000 – after which the state will meet care costs. But ministers are expected to announce next week that they will set the cap much higher than that. It has been widely reported that the cap could be as high as £75,000. There were rumours yesterday, however, that the final level to be announced on Monday may be lower – £60,000, uprated by inflation in future years.....[URL="http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article-2275985/75-000-cap-cost-care-lost-thousands-pensioners-homes.html"][B]Read more here[/B][/URL][/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=5corpio;289044][B]Long-term social care: Options for self-funders[/B]

Hundreds of people enter the care system every week in England, but there are concerns that few are ready for the expense. At present, people with assets of more than £23,000, often including the value of their home, do not get any help in paying for.....[B]AAD Blog: [URL="http://forums.all-about-debt.co.uk/blog.php?bt=2248"]£75,000 cap on cost of care will lose thousands of pensioners their homes - allaboutFORUMS[/URL][/B][/QUOTE]

[CENTER][B]Social care: Inheritance tax freeze expected[/B]
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Thousands more people will have to pay inheritance tax to help fund long-awaited social care reforms in England, ministers will announce on Monday. The inheritance tax threshold is to be frozen at.....[B]AAD Blog: [URL="http://forums.all-about-debt.co.uk/blog.php?bt=2249"]£75,000 cap on cost of care will lose thousands of pensioners their homes - allaboutFORUMS[/URL]
[/B]

[5corpio]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[CENTER][B][B]Tens of thousands of pensioners fall victims of healthcare homes con[/B][/B]
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Tens of thousands of pensioners and people approaching retirement have been sold worthless ‘trust’ schemes that promised to protect their home if they went into care. Regulators are to take action against rogue advisers thought to have made millions of pounds by preying on the fears of the retired. Whitehall guidelines and a tough new approach by local authorities mean that any ‘asset-protection trust’ that has been obviously established to spare people having to sell their....[B][URL="http://forums.all-about-debt.co.uk/blog.php?b=1909"]Read more from AAD Blog pages[/URL]: [/B]

[5corpio]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[CENTER][B]Dispatches - Tonight[/B]
[B]Britain on Benefits - [/B][B]Disability Living Allowance[/B]
[B] 25th February 2013 @8pm CH4[/B]
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the benefit bill has to be cut, and the government plans to take more than half a million claimants off DLA.....[B]Read more HERE and for Links[/B]: [B][URL="http://forums.all-about-debt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=293154#post293154"]Consumer TV Series on television - Page 7 - allaboutFORUMS[/URL][/B]

[5corpio]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[B]Millions stop work to be carers, survey indicates[/B]

More than two million people in the UK have left jobs to care for disabled, sick or elderly loved ones, a survey by Carers UK suggests. Of those in the online poll, 22% said they had seen their work affected by caring responsibilities. The survey of 2,073 adults found 4% said they had given up work and 6% had cut their hours to care for an elderly, ill or disabled relative. The charity is calling for more support for people to juggle caring and work. The survey suggested the hardest hit were 45 to 54-year-olds, with more than one in four, or 27%, reporting caring had taken a toll on their work. Helena Herklots, Carers UK chief executive, said employers could play a critical role in shifting how society supported people with caring responsibilities.....[B]You can [/B][URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21695284"][COLOR=Indigo][B]Read more here[/B][/COLOR][/URL]

[5corpio]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[CENTER][B]Residents are still paying care home fees despite having insurance that should cover the cost[/B]
[/CENTER]

Major care advice specialist Symponia says some older people and their families are paying for long-term care without realising that they already have insurance to cover the costs. It means they are paying weekly nursing fees of about £700 instead of a fraction of these costs. Symponia, a network for care fees planning advisers, says it has uncovered widespread evidence of people entering care who have forgotten about 'prefunded' policies they bought 20 to 30 years ago. These policies were sold by insurers including Bupa, Norwich Union (now Aviva), PPP Lifetime (now part of Axa), Partnership and Scottish Widows and were designed to meet the cost of care fees in old age. More than 44,000 pre-funded plans were bought in the Eighties and early Nineties, primarily by people in their 60s. They were then withdrawn from sale because premiums became prohibitively expensive. Janet Davies, managing director of Symponia, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, believes dementia is one reason why such invaluable policies are being forgotten. The Alzheimer's Society reported recently that 320,000 of the 400,000 people in care homes are suffering from dementia or severe memory problems.....[URL="http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2291448/Residents-paying-care-home-fees-insurance.html"][B]Read more here[/B][/URL]

[5corpio]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[B]Tens of thousands of families face a battle of up to 14 years to recover wrongly charged care costs[/B]

Tens of thousands of families face a battle of up to 14 years to recover crippling fees that their elderly relatives were wrongly charged for nursing care. Desperate families have flooded local primary care trusts in England with more than 60,000 claims to win care home funding denied to loved ones. Under little-known rules, the elderly can have their care costs paid for by the NHS regardless of their income and assets — but only if their health needs are judged to be severe enough. Known as continuing care, the financial support might typically be offered to an immobile pensioner suffering a debilitating disease such as Parkinson’s or advanced dementia. The cost of such intensive nursing care, covering accommodation and nurses, can be between £3,000 and £4,000 a month — a staggering sum for families to find. But many people were never given any inkling that they could claim these fees. In some cases, they were told that because they owned properties or had savings, they would have to pay for the care themselves. Families denied help are left with no option but to use their loved one’s savings or sell their home to cover the nursing home fees....[URL="http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2292316/Tens-thousands-families-face-battle-14-years-recover-wrongly-charged-care-costs.html"][B].Read more here[/B][/URL]

[5corpio]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[CENTER][B]Housing benefit: Foster carers and armed services exempted from changes[/B]
[/CENTER]

Foster carers and families of armed services personnel will be exempt from controversial changes to housing benefit, ministers have said. They will not face deductions in rental support as part of plans to clamp down on under-occupied properties. Support will also be available on a discretionary basis for others, such as those with long-term medical problems. Ministers say the housing benefit bill must be curbed. Labour says the plans amount to a tax on the vulnerable. Changes to benefits for tenants in council houses and social housing will come into force next month, with families deemed to have too much living space seeing their rental payments reduced. David Cameron and Ed Miliband have been involved in a fierce war of words over the issue for weeks, with the Labour leader characterising the policy as a "bedroom tax". The prime minister has insisted the proposals are not a tax and will, instead, see curbs on what he has called existing "spare room subsidies".....[URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21760365"][B]Read more here[/B][/URL]

[5corpio]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[B]UK woefully under-prepared for ageing society, say peers[/B]

The UK is "woefully underprepared" for the social and economic challenges presented by an ageing society, a Lords committee has warned. The committee said "the gift of longer life" could lead to "a series of crises" in public service provision. Peers said big changes in pensions, health care and employment practices were needed to help people "sustain a good quality of life" as they aged. The government said supporting people in later life was a priority.

[B]'Honest debate' [/B]
The Lords committee on public service and demographic change cited figures from the Office for National Statistics that forecast a 50% rise in the number of over-65s and a doubling in over-85s between 2010 and 2030.....[URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21773743"][COLOR=Indigo][B].Read more here[/B][/COLOR][/URL]