The Preacherman Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Typical Daily Fail article. Why should I as a tax payer fund this woman to stay in a £650K home? Why can't her offspring help her out if it so important for her to stay in her own home or are they too concerned about maximising their inheritance? She devoted her life to others. Now, aged 93, this eminent ex-teacher faces ruin over £5,000 care billShe spent her retirement helping the homeless after a career at the forefront of education. In return, perhaps she could reasonably have expected to be cared for in her old age. Now, at the age of 93, Phyllis Wallbank fears she will lose her house after being sent a bill from the council for nearly £5,000. Mrs Wallbank, who is too frail to feed herself, has been ordered to cover the costs of the carers sent to help her with her meals over the past year. She has just £300 in her bank account, and is worried that she will have to leave her home near Eton College, where she used to work. Read more: http://www.dailymail...l#ixzz1mknyKIXU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redcellar Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Typical Daily Fail article. Why should I as a tax payer fund this woman to stay in a £650K home? Why can't her offspring help her out if it so important for her to stay in her own home or are they too concerned about maximising their inheritance? I had a similar conversation with some pensioners this week. They said why should they be forced to sell to pay for care, particularly if its only for one of them to go into a home because of medical conditions. I agreed. Why should they be forced to move. My answer was to take advantage of those, release equity and get to stay in the place until you die, schemes. Sure there will be no inheritance for the offspring, the company owns the deeds. But it's fair and covers the costs and lets one of them stay in the home they love and know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hedgefunded Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Of course she should move. If she lived in a £200k house with £450k in cash she'd have to pay for her care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
singlemalt Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Just another example of someone who has failed to prepare for their old age simply because they ‘expected’ to be care for by the system. What system would this be perchance? Where is this much vaunted covenant that guarantees that you will be cared for in your own home in your final years simply because you’re a British citizen and have “paid in” all your life. Where is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Executive Sadman Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Tight fisted old bat. 'Devoted' her life to others She never got a salary for being a teacher/indoctrinator then? She said she now has to borrow against the house she bought almost 70 years ago ‘to pay to be fed’, adding: ‘I worked very hard to buy this house, I saved every penny. I don’t want to leave. Her and the rest of us. Your'e still wealthier than 95% of the population dear, regardless of how wrinkly and frail you are. A grandmother of six, she was made an MBE in 1996 and continued her charity work feeding the homeless after retiring. Wonder who alerted the sensibilities of the DM then. Worried 'their' inheritance might end up supporting her in her old age? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Executive Sadman Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 The comments with arrows up vs arrows down are shocking. What a bunch of entitled self aggrandizing 'im alright jack' nimby old codgers must be reading that article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadget Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Just another example of someone who has failed to prepare for their old age simply because they ‘expected’ to be care for by the system. What system would this be perchance? Where is this much vaunted covenant that guarantees that you will be cared for in your own home in your final years simply because you’re a British citizen and have “paid in” all your life. Where is it? Quite. The point of "saving for retirement" is to spend it when you retire. To wail and cry because your savings are all tied up in your "home" and its against your human rights not to pass on your home debt free to your offspring is mad. No other generation expected to live alone in large family houses in their twilight years. Miss Haversham was not meant to be an ideal to aspire to.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Quite. The point of "saving for retirement" is to spend it when you retire. To wail and cry because your savings are all tied up in your "home" and its against your human rights not to pass on your home debt free to your offspring is mad. No other generation expected to live alone in large family houses in their twilight years. Miss Haversham was not meant to be an ideal to aspire to.... No, your family lived with you and cared for you till the end......just saying, these days there are so many elderly people living alone, stuck in their home, their children living miles away or continents away....whether it is the parents escaping the kids or the kids escaping the parents is debatable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R K Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Very sad. Fortunately she has many options available to her to enable her to stay in her home for as long as she wishes. She's very fortunate. Shame on Paul Dacre for his ghastly hate-stirring rag. not least :- A grandmother of six Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 A 93 year old lady is not going to be a burden on your taxes for very long, is she! Have a heart! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squeeky Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 A 93 year old lady is not going to be a burden on your taxes for very long, is she! Have a heart! If she managed to live alone until into her 90's, with the help of a care home, she could easily see another 10 years maybe many, many more. Just how long should people with sufficient means (who aren't going to be living in their house, hence the care home!) be provided for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spongeh Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 A 93 year old lady is not going to be a burden on your taxes for very long, is she! Have a heart! If she's anything like my gran she's got another 10 years of burden in her yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Bear Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 A 93 year old lady is not going to be a burden on your taxes for very long, is she! Have a heart! Sorry, no sympathy. She could release equity and stay put. My mother is also 93, her house was sold to pay care home fees of around £45K a year. She's been there 4 years now. None of us (4 kids) thought it remotely unfair that she should fund herself. On the contrary, were glad when crisis point finally came that we could choose a home ourselves, and not have social workers shoving her in any old wee-smelling place that happened to have a room available. She was too demented to give an opinion, but if she'd had her marbles would certainly have agreed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geezer466 Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 A 93 year old lady is not going to be a burden on your taxes for very long, is she! Have a heart! That's not really the point. Everyone should pay irrespective of means testing assets or not. No pay = no care. That should sort out the inequality in the system...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Democorruptcy Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 She should have sold the house to one of her children for £1 and then rented it from them claiming housing benefit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pent Up Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 A 93 year old lady is not going to be a burden on your taxes for very long, is she! Have a heart! Not with any luck... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redcellar Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 She should have sold the house to one of her children for £1 and then rented it from them claiming housing benefit. Only if she and her child wanted to be investigated and charged with fraud, and tax evasion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plummet expert Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 I had a similar conversation with some pensioners this week. They said why should they be forced to sell to pay for care, particularly if its only for one of them to go into a home because of medical conditions. I agreed. Why should they be forced to move. My answer was to take advantage of those, release equity and get to stay in the place until you die, schemes. Sure there will be no inheritance for the offspring, the company owns the deeds. But it's fair and covers the costs and lets one of them stay in the home they love and know. They should have agovt organised scheme to simply place a charge on the home for the bill, with a low interest rate set. It will then be collected when both die or they move out permanently to a residential home. And if the govt wants to cap this of make everyone pay the £38k or whatever, then the bill would form part of it. No moving out and all fees controlled, to avoid ramping up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pent Up Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 They should have agovt organised scheme to simply place a charge on the home for the bill, with a low interest rate set. It will then be collected when both die or they move out permanently to a residential home. And if the govt wants to cap this of make everyone pay the £38k or whatever, then the bill would form part of it. No moving out and all fees controlled, to avoid ramping up. Sounds like a very good idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juvenal Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 A 93 year old lady is not going to be a burden on your taxes for very long, is she! Have a heart! Is she an organ donor, then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Professor Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Story smells very fishy to me. Local authorities do not require you to sell your home (or take out a new mortgage) to fund in-home care, as the article suggests. If she were to go into full-time residential or nursing home care then yes, her house would have to be sold to pay the care home fees. But if she is still living in the house, the council would simply take a charge against the property. This wouldn't have to be paid until the old dear passed away or went into a care home. I suspect the hand of a greedy relative behind this story - not happy with the fact that part of their inheritance is likely to be 'wasted' on providing care for their mother. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juvenal Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 The elderly woman has an extensive entry on Wiki. She has been decorated by both the Queen and the Pope. With index-linked state and teaching pensions and carer's allowance, it seems incredible she is down to her last £300. In any case, why should a £600K asset be kept intact, while tax payers fork out yet again? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllis_Wallbank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RufflesTheGuineaPig Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Story smells very fishy to me. Local authorities do not require you to sell your home (or take out a new mortgage) to fund in-home care, as the article suggests. There may be an upper limit on that I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrashedOutAndBurned Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Funny article from the Daily Fail! 1. Why are they championing some old dear that advocated what they would usually describe as 'trendy teaching methods'? 2. Why didn't the old dear organise her financial affairs better, especially after being married to a clergyman, which is usually a pretty safe meal ticket? 3. Hang on, she's Catholic yet married a clergyman? Eh? Woh? Uh? 4. Why is is so bad that someone in a £650k mansion has to pay for their care? Or should the 20 and 30 something living in shared housing and dank rented hovels pay for her care when by the time they're that age there'll be f'all of a welfare state left to care for THEM and they likely won't have a big flashy pad to fall back on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrB Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 The comments with arrows up vs arrows down are shocking. What a bunch of entitled self aggrandizing 'im alright jack' nimby old codgers must be reading that article. The Mail is a parallel universe, the red arrows are the sensible comments. Teachers salary, pension, various benefits and allowances, £650k house with zero capital gains tax. This woman is not 'poor' or 'hard done by' at all. Why should someone else pay for her care when she has the means?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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