I understand that but is it fair that the only living child is made to pay for her mother’s care when her parents made no real provision for their retirement and spent a large proportion of their pensions on holidays and in the pub?
1 Like
that happens in France and UK too… folk are really no different from anyone else… everyone has good, not so good and/or even bad parts in their character… can result in a very difficult situation all round…
but French folk know the system and how it works… for many Brits it comes as a shock.
1 Like
Exactly Stella, an only child doesn’t mean he or she will get fleeced in order to pay for care of a parent in a care home. The means testing is thorough and the person pays what is deemed an affordable amount.
In my partner’s case she will pay the parts of her three kids if she can in order to take the burden from her kids.
2 Likes
But it’s not regardless of whether people can afford it or not, there is quite a lot of work done to make sure the next generation (and more importantly the one after) are not pushed into poverty.
A friend of ours developed Parkinson’s and dementia. His wife died of cancer, and he had to go into a home as no way his son could look after him (it was very difficult). He needed a lot of care which was beyond his pension. Son didn’t have a high paying job, and didn’t pay anything toward the care home and carried on living in the family home (he couldn’t afford his own).
It’s about whether the system/law itself is fair rather than how it works in practice.
The whole point is that the family’s contribution is assessed, and in any case, people expect to contribute - I have to say I find this apparently acceptable to the English 'sling ‘em out not my problem let the old person die among strangers’ mentality absolutely abhorrent. I wonder what your MIL cost her parents, over the years? Did she also expect to be dumped when she got old?
1 Like
I believe that there is more than a grain of truth in the following advertisement.
A sad reflection on English society?
