The Scottish Government

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4. Expenditure

4.1 Care Homes

From 1 July 2002, personal and nursing care services became free for people aged 65 and over resident in care homes. In practice this means that everyone aged 65 and over who has been assessed as requiring personal and/or nursing care services in a care home receives £145 per week for personal care and £65 per week for nursing care.

The expenditure data on free personal and nursing care relates only to self-funders who previously would have paid for all of their care. The figures therefore allow us to determine the additional cost to Local Authorities in Scotland, following the implementation of this policy, in relation to care homes.

Table 3 shows total expenditure on free personal and nursing care payments for the first four years of the policy. Note that the first year has been factored up to represent a whole year. This allows us to look at trends over the four years.

· Expenditure on free personal care for self-funders in care homes has risen each year from £63 million in 2003-04 (first full year of the policy) to £69 million in 2005/06.

• Expenditure on free nursing care for self-funders in care homes has also risen each year from £17.5 million in 2003/04 (first full year of the policy) to £21.5 million in 2005/06.

Over this same period the number of older people supported by local authorities in Care Homes remained fairly static at around 32,000. This would suggest that there has been a shift towards more self-funding residents and therefore a reduction in local authority funded residents.

Table 3: Expenditure on Care Homes for Older People, 2002-03 to 2005-06

Source: Free Personal and Nursing Care Expenditure Survey, Local Financial Return ( LFR3)
*The free personal care policy began 1 July 2002. The 2002-03 figures have been factored up to represent a full year.

Expenditure on Free Personal and Nursing Care in Care Homes (£000s)

4.2 Home care

From 1 July 2002, all personal care services provided to people in their own homes became free of charge. Prior to this date, local authorities had discretion to charge for these services and a variety of charging policies operated across the country. Any charges were subject to a financial assessment which means that in practise many people would have received these services for free prior to the introduction of free personal care. With the introduction of free personal care these services became free for all clients. Local authorities can still charge for domestic services such as help with shopping or housework.

Since 2002, information has been collected on the cost of providing personal care services at home. It should be noted that these costs do not tell us the additional cost of this policy as many people would have received these services for free prior to 2002. Therefore a proportion of these costs are ongoing costs and a proportion are new costs due to the introduction of FPC.

Total expenditure on personal care services at home increased from £121 million in 2003-04 (first full year of policy) to £168 million in 2005-06.

Expenditure on personal care services accounted for 55% of overall net expenditure on home care services in 2003-4 and 59% in 2005-06.

Table 4: Expenditure on Home based services for Older People, 2002-03 to 2005-06

Source: Free Personal and Nursing Care Expenditure Survey, Local Financial Return ( LFR3)

*The free personal care policy began 1 July 2002. The 2002-03 figures have been factored up to represent a full year.

Expenditure on Home Care Services 2002-03 to 2005-06

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