Long Term Care

If a partner is taken into care would the home have to be sold?

This is a big misconception. If your partner or spouse goes into long term care, as long as you're still living in the joint home, the family home, it's value is ignored completely and so it doesn't count. They will get help with the fees regardless of the value of the home. Even when the last person goes into the home the family house may not have to be sold. You don't have to sell it. You can let the debt build up and then it's paid off if you die from the proceeds of selling your property. So it's a misconception that you have to sell your home to pay for care. You never, ever, ever, ever have to sell your home.

Is it worth saving toward the prospect of having to be in long term care?

Not really. The first reason is that, if you do go into care, it is so expensive that however much you've saved, that money will run out. It can cost between five hundred and a thousand pounds a week to be in long term care. So, unless you are very wealthy, it's going to be very hard to pay for it yourself in the long term. The second reason is that because it's so expensive, the state pays for it. Now they won't pay for all of it and you'll be expected to use your savings to contribute to the cost, but you are never going to be left without the long term care you need because you don't have money. There are ways of saving up for it through insurance policies, they generally are not very good value. If you have got a lump sum and you have to go into care, you might want to take out what's called an immediate care plan, which can give you some money. And paying for a bit of it yourself, or most of it yourself, gives you a bit more flexibility. You're not stuck with the home the local council says you have to go in, you might have a room to yourself, a nicer place. So, having some money is not a disadvantage, but saving up to pay for it is not really a good use of money. The other reason is that most people never go into care. Four out of five of us never go into long term care before we die.