Tag Archives: Older care
Norfolk County Council announces £100,000 boost to help older people get through the winter
Norfolk County Council announces £100,000 boost to help older people get through the winter
Surviving winter campaign – Case Study: Daphne Claxton. Picture: James Bass
Dan Grimmer Monday, November 5, 2012
11:33 AM
Older people in Norfolk have been handed a surprise £100,000 boost to help them get through the winter.
Norfolk County Council’s cabinet today agreed to hand the cash to Age UK Norfolk for the charity’s warm winter fund.
The one-off grant, which comes from a forecast underspend on the County Hall budget, will be used by Age UK Norfolk to offer small grants of between £100 to £200 to older people struggling to pay fuel bills.
It will also help pay for further work to look at the underlying need for such support as heating bills continue to rise.
Care bills will soak up most of our savings
A rising number of elderly people face losing “almost all of their wealth” to pay for social care, after the Government admitted it was “unable to commit” to reforming the system.
By Rowena Mason, Political Correspondent
In a stark assessment of the growing crisis in elderly care, a government report warns that the country may not be able to afford to fund a cap on care costs for a rapidly expanding ageing population.
The report, released this week, depicts a bleak picture of the future, with a growing number of pensioners slipping into poverty as they use up their savings to fund care and rely on friends and family for help. It lays bare the scale of the task facing ministers and will increase the pressure on David Cameron to address the issue.
An official review of the social care system published last year recommended that the Coalition should introduce a cap of £35,000 on the maximum amount that people have to pay towards a nursing home.
