The True Cost of Elderly Care

The UK's Ageing Population Brings Financial Concerns

A few statistics... the UK has an ageing population, currently 10 million people in the UK are over 65 years old. The latest projections are for 5½ million more elderly people in 20 years time and the number will have nearly doubled to around 19 million by 2050. According to the Laing & Buisson market survey the the average cost in England is £532 a week for a residential care home or £750 for a nursing home. This implies average spending of more than £100,000 in a care home and £150,000 in a nursing home.

Naturally this currently puts or will put a lot of people in pressured situations where the cost of care can spiral. 

Some two million elderly people have been forced to dip into their savings to pay for care costs, a survey by a national insurance company has revealed. Research undertaken for the NFU Mutual insurance group shows around a million homes have been sold to cover care costs in the last five years, causing three out of four people whose parents go into care to forego all or most of any financial inheritance from their parents.

The findings suggest more than three quarters (77%) of those whose parents or in-laws had needed residential care had lost out on a significant part of savings that they would otherwise have inherited. Around half claimed their parent’s care bills were met from savings and 28% said the family was forced to sell their parent’s home to pay care costs.

Under current arrangements, anyone with savings of more than £23,250 is forced to pay for their own care.  Recent reforms to raise this financial bar to £75,000 - in line with Oxford economist Andrew Dilnot’s recommendations ­ will not take effect until 2016.

Sean McCann, head of life technical and marketing compliance at NFU Mutual, said: ‘Younger generations could be in for a long wait if they are banking on an inheritance to fund their own retirement.  ‘People should be making their own retirement plans rather than factoring in property and wealth that could be whittled away by the cost of care.’

One solution to this dilemma is to move elderly relatives into your own home, giving them greater independence, saving on nursing care fees and releasing the equity on their own property into the family. Often, however this can mean cramped conditions but consider building separate living quarters within your property grounds. This may sound elaborate and expensive but a Log Cabin Granny Annex, something New Forest Log Cabins specialise in, can be a very cost-effective solution. How do you go about this and what are the costs involved? Please visit our Granny Annex page for further details.

Can Temporary Log Cabin Buildings Address the Urgent Need for Space in Educational Establishments?

By John Rudd

Stephen Twigg, the shadow education secretary, called on George Osborne, the chancellor, to address this "urgent crisis" in his budget. He predicts that pupils will have to be taught in temporary buildings because schools will soon run out of space. In a recent article in The Guardian, Twigg claimed that, over the next few years, the government has promised to fund only an extra 100 schools. These are likely to be free schools - one of the coalition's education reforms.
Official figures show the number of primary age children in the capital is set to soar from 595,000 to 701,000 over the next three to four years, raising the spectre of children having to be taught in school halls, hired buildings and temporary mobile classrooms. Education Secretary Michael Gove hit back by blaming Labour for the crisis, saying that warnings were ignored by the last government until it was too late to avert the problem. Several education authorities are already looking at emergency school accommodation.

New Forest Log Cabins has built school classrooms for many years to meet a whole variety of teaching needs. The company would like to ask readers to consider if the typical example of a temporary classroom is still an acceptable alternative to a purpose build, or custom designed classroom, ICT suite, canteen, sports pavilion or outdoor education centre? If the cost of hiring a temporary log classroom over five years was equivalent to owning outright a classroom that was designed to meet the key needs of your school, we have to ask if this could be considered a better use of the limited funds being given to schools to cope with the ever expanding needs for extra teaching space.

Log cabins are not only a great solution economically, but also environmentally. When considering the Carbon Footprint of your building, wood is both environmentally friendly, energy efficient and performs better than 'traditional' build structures. Wood is a natural material that is both beautiful and tactile and is therefore the first choice for all seasons. It's insulation qualities ensure that heating and air conditioning costs are kept to a minimum, which makes it the ideal material for many types of school buildings. For example, the log cabins built by New Forest Log Cabins have been independently certified and in all cases have exceeded the minimum U-values which can be proven to save schools between 30 - 40% on heating, lighting and cooling.

To find more about how New Forest's log classrooms and buildings can offer a cost effective solution for school's needs, visit New Forest Log Cabins to receive a Log Schools Information Pack and Schools Designs Brochure.

For more information please contact New Forest Log Cabins Tel: 01202 888108