Council is failing on care home fees, charity claims

NEW rules on top-up fees for care homes are being ignored by Portsmouth City Council, meaning families of the poorest pensioners could be subsidising the cost of essential care unnecessarily, a charity claims.

Research by older people’s charity Independent Age has shown the council is one of nearly two-thirds in the south east which are not meeting guidelines on fees introduced last year.

The charity’s chief executive, Janet Morrison, said: ‘Top-up fees must be fair, be agreed in writing and be reviewed regularly.

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‘Rules introduced by the government make it clear that it is councils that are responsible for making sure this happens and relatives are not charged unfair fees. Yet our research shows that many councils in the south east are failing to do this.’