I have to join the school of thought that my parents paid an insurance for care throughout their 50 years of working life. It was called Income Tax and National Insurance. As others have said, in the last few years the rules have changed. My parents were not well off, but dad in particular worked every hour under the sun to provide a good home for his family. Mum took time off to have us kids, but once we were 11 she went back to work and carried on until retirement age. They were careful with their money so by the time they retired they owned their home and had enough money to enjoy their retirement.
My dad died 20 years ago, 4 years after retiring, so no state care needed for him. I am caring for my mum, with no assistance. She even self-funds day care at £50 a day. We have used some of the money from the sale of her house to improve her life-style (ours has gone seriously downhill). She has gifted each of her 4 grown up grandchildren a significant sum towards homebuying, etc, which gave her tremendous pleasure. Whenever she visits their homes they always say "oh you bought this for us nan" - her face really lights up. This was something my parents had always planned to do. Its what families do for each other.
She still has a reasonable pension and savings to fund a significant stay in residential care if it is needed, but there is no way I am bending over backwards to make their hard earned savings readily available for care, which I feel she has already more than paid for over her working life.
I do agree that times have changed and a compulsory insurance scheme should be introduced for everyone of working age (that includes me, even though we retired at 55). However for people of my mum's age I firmly believe free care should be made available to all. Actually its not free - they have paid for it.
My dad died 20 years ago, 4 years after retiring, so no state care needed for him. I am caring for my mum, with no assistance. She even self-funds day care at £50 a day. We have used some of the money from the sale of her house to improve her life-style (ours has gone seriously downhill). She has gifted each of her 4 grown up grandchildren a significant sum towards homebuying, etc, which gave her tremendous pleasure. Whenever she visits their homes they always say "oh you bought this for us nan" - her face really lights up. This was something my parents had always planned to do. Its what families do for each other.
She still has a reasonable pension and savings to fund a significant stay in residential care if it is needed, but there is no way I am bending over backwards to make their hard earned savings readily available for care, which I feel she has already more than paid for over her working life.
I do agree that times have changed and a compulsory insurance scheme should be introduced for everyone of working age (that includes me, even though we retired at 55). However for people of my mum's age I firmly believe free care should be made available to all. Actually its not free - they have paid for it.