Challenge of long-term care nears crisis point

THE challenge of funding long-term care in Scotland is fast approaching a critical point as the population gets older.

There will be 720,000 over-75s by 2033, almost double the current number, while the proportion of Scots who are of pensionable age is set to rise by a third over the same period, according to government statistics.

And unless decisive action was taken to reform care funding, Scotland faced a socio-economic time bomb, warned Tony Banks, owner of Balhousie Care Group.

With government spending under the microscope, a number of options are being considered across the UK, while the free personal care offered in Scotland may come under renewed scrutiny due to the fact that, because it's not means-tested it is sometimes paid to those deemed "able to afford to pay for care themselves".

Banks told The Scotsman: "The government needs to look at what the care needs are going to be, how to provide it and how we pay for it. If everyone wants free elderly care it has to be paid for, and that's through taxation."

Banks proposes a 1p increase on the basic rate of tax, which would be ring-fenced to pay for long-term care of the elderly, and wants local authorities to cut costs by passing the provision of care homes to the private sector.

He claimed that spaces in local authority care homes can cost 200 more than in private sector homes.

"There has to be some relationship where people pay some care costs and the government picks some of it up as well. The amount being spent on it by local councils is incredible."