Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T19:35:02.650Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Income, Capital and the Cost of Care in Old Age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

Ian Gibbs
Affiliation:
Research Fellow, Centre for Housing Policy, University of York, England

Abstract

According to ‘conventional wisdom’ older people are now relatively well off and, as a result, many are in a position to pay for their own care and housing needs in old age. In reviewing the evidence for this latter proposition the article provides a brief overview for the UK population and the implications of an ageing society for the care services. A summary of the main sources of income available to older people is undertaken, including home ownership and ways of releasing equity which might be employed to generate extra income. On the basis that it is also important to match information about financial resources available to older people to the cost of different services, the article reviews the likely costs of residential and nursing home care and the little that is known about the costs of domiciliary services. In short, the article presents a summary of the relevant background information and examines the issue of whether elderly people could (but not necessarily ‘should’) finance their housing and care needs in old age.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

NOTES

1 Griffiths, R., Community Care: Agenda for Action. HMSO, London, 1988.Google Scholar

2 Walker, R., The financial resources of the elderly or paying your own way in old age. In Baldwin, S., Parker, G. and Walker, R. (eds), Social Security and Community Care. Avebury, Aldershot, 1988.Google Scholar

3 Maclennan, D., Gibb, K. and More, A., Paying for Britain's Housing. Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York, 1990.Google Scholar

4 Nissel, M. and Bonnerjea, L., Family Care of the Handicapped Elderly: Who Pays? Policy Studies Institute, London, 1982.Google Scholar

5 Sinclair, I. and Williams, J., Demography, health and personal resources. In Sinclair, I., Parker, R., Leat, D. and Williams, J., The Kaleidoscope of Care: A Review of Research on Welfare Provision for Elderly People. HMSO, London, 1990.Google Scholar

6 Martin, J. and White, A., The Financial Circumstances of Disabled Adults Living in Private Households. OPCS Surveys of Disability in Great Britain, Report 2. HMSO, London, 1988.Google Scholar

7 Bonsanquet, N., Laing, W. and Proper, C., Elderly Consumers in Britain. Europe's Poor Relations? Charting the Grey Economy in the 1990s. Laing and Buisson Publications, London, 1990.Google Scholar

8 Ermisch, J., Fewer Babies, Longer Lives: Policy Implications of Current Demographic Trends. Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York, 1990.Google Scholar

9 Ermisch, J., 1990, op. cit.Google Scholar

10 Sinclair, I. and Williams, J., 1990, op cit.Google Scholar

11 Department of Social Security, Social Security Statistics 1989. HMSO, London, 1990.Google Scholar

12 Department of Social Security, 1990, op. cit.Google Scholar

13 Department of Social Security, 1990, op. cit.Google Scholar

14 Brown, J., Social Security For Retirement. Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York, 1990.Google Scholar

15 Walker, R., 1988, op. cit.Google Scholar

16 Brown, J., 1990, op. cit.Google Scholar

17 Walker, R., 1988, op. cit.Google Scholar

18 Bosanquet, N., Laing, W. and Propper, C., 1990, op. cit.Google Scholar

19 Brown, J., 1990, op. cit.Google Scholar

20 Maclennan, D., Gibb, K. and More, A., 1990, op. cit.Google Scholar

21 Whitehouse, E., The abolition of the pensions earnings rule. Fiscal Studies, 11 (1990), 5570.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

22 Fiegehen, G., Income after retirement. In Central Statistical Office, Social Trends, 16, pp. 1318. HMSO, London, 1986.Google Scholar

23 Martin, J and White, A., 1988, op. cit.Google Scholar

24 Walker, R., 1988, op. cit.Google Scholar

25 Office of Population, Censuses and Surveys, General Household Survey 1988. HMSO, London, 1990.Google Scholar

26 Maclennan, D., Gibb, K. and More, A., 1990, op. cit.Google Scholar

27 Leather, P. and Wheeler, R., Making use of Equity in Old Age. Building Societies Association, London, 1988.Google Scholar

28 Bosanquet, N., Laing, W. and Propper, C., 1990, op cit.Google Scholar

29 Leather, P., The potential and implications of home equity release in old age. Housing Studies, 5 (1990), 313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

30 Leather, P., 1990, op. cit.Google Scholar

31 Department of the Environment, English House Condition Survey 1981. HMSO, London, 1983.Google Scholar

32 Department of the Environment, English House Condition Survey 1986. HMSO, London, 1988.Google Scholar

33 Leather, P., 1990, op. cit.Google Scholar

34 Dodd, T. and Hunter, P., Trading Down and Moves Out of Owner Occupation. A survey carried out by the Social Survey Division of OPCS on behalf of the Department of the Environment. HMSO, London, 1990.Google Scholar

35 Leather, P., 1990, op. cit.Google Scholar

36 Hinton, C., Using Your Home as Capital. Age Concern, London, 1990.Google Scholar

37 Parker, R., Sinclair, I. and Williams, J. Financial background. In Sinclair, I., Parker, R., Leat, D. and Williams, J., The Kaleidoscope of Care: A Review of Research on Welfare Provision for Elderly People. HMSO, London, 1990.Google Scholar

38 House of Commons Social Services Committee Second Report, Community Care: Future Funding of Private and Voluntary Residential Care. HMSO, London, 1990.Google Scholar

39 Midwinter, E., Caring for Cash: The Issues of Private Domiciliary Care. Centre for Policy on Ageing, London, 1986.Google Scholar

40 Midwinter, E., 1986, op. cit.Google Scholar

41 Leat, D., For Love and Money: The Role of Payment in Encouraging the Provision of Care. Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York, 1990.Google Scholar

42 Hansard, 22 January 1991, Written Answers, cols. 131–2.

43 Parker, R., Private domestic help and care. In Sinclair, I., Parker, R., Leat, D. and Williams, J., The Kaleidoscope of Care: A Review of Research on Welfare Provision for Elderly People. HMSO, London, 1990.Google Scholar

44 Glendinning, C., Dependency and interdependency: the incomes of informal carers and the impact of social security. Journal of Social Policy, 19 (1990), 469–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

45 Green, H., Informal Carers. (Study carried out as part of the 1985 General Household Survey.) OPCS Series GH5 No. 15, HMSO, London.Google Scholar

46 Family Policy Studies Centre, Family Policy Bulletin, 6, Winter 1989. FPSC, London.Google Scholar

47 Evandrou, M., Challenging the invisibility of carers: mapping informal care nationally. Welfare State Programme Discussion Paper WSP/49. London School of Economics, London, 1990.Google Scholar

48 Martin, J. and White, A., 1988, op. cit.Google Scholar

49 Pine, M. and Butler, E., Extending Care: An Examination of the Problems of Residential Care and Care in the Community. Adam Smith Institute, London, 1989.Google Scholar

50 Walker, R., 1988, op. cit.Google Scholar

51 Bull, J. and Poole, L., Not Rich, Not Poor – A Study of Housing Options for Elderly People on Middle Incomes. SHAC/Anchor Housing Trust, London, 1989.Google Scholar

52 Leather, P., 1990, op. cit.Google Scholar

53 Parker, R., Sinclair, I. and Williams, J., 1990, op. cit.Google Scholar

54 Falkingham, J. and Victor, C., The myth of the woopie?: incomes, the elderly, and targeting welfare. Welfare State Programme Discussion Paper WSP/55, London School of Economics, London, 1991. Also in this issue of Ageing and Society.Google Scholar

55 Evandrou, M. and Victor, C. Differentiation in later life: class and housing tenure cleavages. In Bytheway, W. (ed), Becoming and Being Old. Sage, London, 1988.Google Scholar

56 Jolliffe, I., Jones, B., Knapp, M. and Morgan, B., Classifications of the elderly population. Ageing and Society 6 (1982), 331–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

57 Dale, A., Evandrou, M. and Arber, S., The household structure of the elderly population in Britain. Ageing and Society, 7 (1987), 3756.CrossRefGoogle Scholar