Almost 150,000 elderly care home residents are being forced to empty their savings to 'prop up the broken care system', new figures show.
Official statistics yesterday laid bare the postcode lottery – with pensioners in the South East nearly twice as likely to pay for their own care as residents in the North East.
Overall, nearly one in three have to pick up the bills for their own care, including thousands who are forced to sell their homes. It is the first time national data showing what proportion of care home residents 'self-fund' has been released by the Office for National Statistics.
The Daily Mail has spent two years campaigning for reform of the broken social care system, which forces dementia patients to fork out billions for their care rather than being supported by the state.
People in England pay the full cost of social care until their assets – including the value of their own homes – fall below £23,250. But last month Boris Johnson announced that an £86,000 cap on lifetime care costs will be introduced in 2023 to reduce the pressure on pensioners to sell their homes to pay their bills.
Jimmy Quinn, 75, from Yeovil in Somerset, died in February just weeks after selling his property to cover a £1,400-a-week care bill
A Falklands hero was forced to dig into his life savings and sell his home to pay for his specialist dementia care costs.
Jimmy Quinn, 75, from Yeovil in Somerset, died in February just weeks after selling his property to cover a £1,400-a-week care bill.
His daughter Natalie said: 'At the same time that my dad was receiving care for his Alzheimer's, my mum developed a brain infection.
'But the difference was that mum received quality unpaid care through the NHS and recovered, whereas we had to pay through the nose for my dad's care and now he's not here. Why should
