Home care: Combining Affordability and Convenience
When it comes to health care, cost is an important consideration to take. No one wants to sacrifice quality to save a few bucks, and luckily there are options to suit every’s unique needs and limitations. The infographic above outlines some of the key factors that point to at-home care as a reliable, convenient and affordable option. Here are also a few things to remember when making the home care decision for yourself or a loved one.
The Cost of Care
The average cost of care per hour paid by local authorities to an external provider for home care
was £17.48 per hour.
Regionally there is wide variation in the costs of care paid by local authorities to providers. For
example, hourly home care rates paid by local authorities to external providers ranged by region
from £15.40 in the North East to £19.94 in the South West, and within the South West average
costs range from £16.08 to £25.56 between constituent local authorities.
Local authorities cannot reasonably control many of the factors that affect the costs of care.
These include the number of high‑need individuals, the wider care market, staff costs, the local
economy, levels of rurality and some of the accommodation costs borne by providers
Increasing Demand
In terms of demand, approximately 57% more adults aged 65 and over will need care in 2038
compared with 2018. The projected increase in demand is closely matches between care at
home (59%) and care homes (55%).
Demand is projected to increase faster for privately funded care homes (67%), due to a
projected increase in the proportion of adults aged 65 and over who own their own home so are
unlikely to be eligible for local authority support towards their care home fees.
Overall, for adults aged 65 and over, the main driver for these increases is an ageing population,
with a 41% increase in the number of adults aged over 65 between 2018 and 2038 projected..