The UK care home with rapid rising costs unlike any other

New research from UK Care Guide has discovered the average annual cost of a self-funded care home now stands at over £45,000.

UK Care Guide, the UK’s leading website that offers care home advice, surveyed care homes across the largest cities in the UK to analyse whether the cost-of-living crisis was leading to an unmanageable increase in care home fees.

The results were published last week and discovered that in a city prices had increased by around 11% this year. The city that has seen the rise is Brighton, with annual costs rocketing by 15% – the annual cost of living in a care home in the southern city is now over £53,000.

Other cities that have also seen a significant increase in care home costs include Leeds and Nottingham which both experienced a rise of 14%.

Among the reasons care homes listed for their increase in price included: remaining financially viable, staff costs and food and energy bills.

William Jackson of UK Care Guide said: ‘UK Care Guide wanted to shine a light on the state of the UK care sector through the lens of the cost-of-living crisis.

‘While it is not surprising that the cost of running a residential care home has increased, the real concern is the significant uplift in cost that residents and their families now face, as well as increases they face in the coming years.

‘And this won’t abate any time soon. The care sector seems unable to escape from the ongoing issue it has with recruitment, while the increase in the living wage from April, and the urgent need to increase staff pay to attract more people to work in care will only compound this.’

The survey that was conducted to collected this research was in respect of care homes that take on privately funded residents and would typically be regarded as mid to premium-level homes.

However, despite the tragic news that has been uncovered by UK Care Guide’s research, Max Parmentier, Co-Founder and CEO of Birdie, a leading care technology organisation, has stated that whilst we have seen a rise in care home prices, home care holds the ticket to combatting ‘sky-high fees’.

He said: ‘With the UK Care Guide revealing care home costs have jumped 11% to nearly £46,000 on average, we have to change the narrative around ageing. People today expect that when they reach a certain age they will have to go to a care home, and incur these sky-high fees.

‘But that’s not the case. Our data shows professional homecare costs an average of £22.16 per hour or £16,176 per year based on two hours of care per day – the average amount of homecare a person receives. This represents savings of up to £29,000 a year.’

Image: Vanessa Lee