Buying Christmas gifts for grandchildren or friends this year is going to be almost impossible for many of the quarter of a million most deprived people living in care homes. 260,000 care home residents survive on a Personal Expenses Allowance of a measly £19.60 a week.

This allowance is meant to cover personal items such as clothes, transport and toiletries. However it doesn’t even cover basic necessities - let alone Christmas gifts.

While the average Briton is expected to spend £3781 this year on Christmas gifts an older person would use a whole month’s allowance of their Personal Expenses Allowance to afford this year’s must-have child present  – a Roboreptile. With an extended family to buy for, including grandchildren and great-grandchildren, care home residents could quiet easily find even the cheapest Christmas gifts out of their reach. 

Age Concern is calling for the allowance to be raised to £40. It would cost only £275 million a year and is one of the simplest ways the Government can help some of the poorest in society to retain some dignity, remain engaged with their communities, friends and families and pursue their interests. Under national means-testing rules, people in care homes have to surrender their pensions and most of their assets to pay for their care home fees. They are then entitled to retain just £19.60 per week.

Gordon Lishman, Director-General Age Concern, said:

“It is shameful that some of the poorest older people aren’t given the means to participate in society to the extent that many can’t even afford the basic let alone to give Christmas presents. 

 “The Government talks of dignity and reducing social exclusion of older people, but without the means to participate in society, they are reducing the chances of people doing anything. £19.60 a week can mean that keeping in touch with friends by phone, replacing clothes and shoes, getting a haircut or getting a gift for a friend isn’t possible These things can mean the difference between existing and living.”

Despite guidance on the use of PEA some people also do not have an option but to spend their allowance to pay for services such as chiropody and physiotherapy. Such services should be free on the NHS for those who need them, but long waiting times, restricted eligibility criteria, or lack of awareness amongst residents about their entitlement  forces them to use their allowance. Local Authorities and Primary Care Trusts must ensure that older people living in care homes are aware of and have access to these services.

Real-life example:

Winifred Warburton, 99, from the Midlands has a weekly overspend of £54.24 after a normal week. She said about her life in a care home, the “stresses and strains of my current hand-to-mouth living, which I never experienced until I was compelled to come under the ‘protective’ umbrella of the Council Adult Finance Services.”

An example of one weeks expenses include:
Telephone £8
Newspaper £3.25
Magazines £1.50
Hair perm £25
Local taxi to clinic £6
Toiletries £8.50
Summer hat £4.99
Suit from charity shop £4.50
Chiropody £12.50
(private, as local clinic refuse to call on me). During previous 6 weeks £30 for 2 visits.

TOTAL: £74.24
Overspent: £54.24

Her extra needs for winter include:
Shoes
Slippers
Underwear, some of which have been in use for 15-20 years.
Warm overcoat
Warm hat
Warm winter dress or suit

End Notes
1) Average Gift spending - Deloitte, November 2006

Note to Editors 

• In April 2006, there were 421,000 people living in care homes in the UK (Laing & Bussion, Care of Elder People Market Survey, 2006, page 10, fig. 5.6)
• Over 90% of people living in care homes are 65 or over and 53% are 85 or over. (Based on Continuing Care Conference 2006 survey of care home residents)
• Around 60% of people living in private and independent care homes in the UK are receiving help with their fees from their local authorities. (Laing & Buisson, Care of Elderly People Market Survey, 2006, page 13.)  

www.ageconcern.org.uk
14th Dacember 2006