The aim is for everyone over 60 to have an income of at least £102.10 a week if they live alone, or £155.80 for couples.But as with LTC, those with savings are penalised. Not only that, but the calculations of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on what sort of income those savings will generate seem well wide of the mark. The DWP counts £1 a week as income for every £500 saved over £6,000. But as accountancy firm Grant Thornton points out, this assumes pensioners will generate 10.4 per cent interest on their savings.Producing such returns when the stock market is in the doldrums would be nothing short of a miracle. If the Pension Credit is going to reduce poverty, the Government is going to have to do better than this.For more details on the Pension Credit, call 0800 991234. Lines are open Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, and 9am to 1pm on Saturdays.m.bien independent.co.uk.

Stories of elderly pensioners dying just days after being shifted from one nursing home to another – usually for financial reasons – are all too common. And they paint a depressing picture of long-term care (LTC) in the UK. Yet the shortage of state funding for LTC, which is extremely expensive if you have to pay for it yourself, is not being addressed. Five years after a Royal Commission ruled on LTC, “little has been resolved”, it says.The Royal Commission wants free personal healthcare for all and estimates this would cost the Government upwards of £1bn a year. It is convinced that this is the only way of resolving the situation because the need for LTC is unpredictable and the costs are high.Unless you live north of the border, that is. The Scottish Executive has adopted the Commission’s recommendation for free personal care.

But England, Northern Ireland and Wales haven’t followed suit.For most people, it is only when they come to pay for LTC, either for themselves or an elderly relative, that they realise how expensive it is. “The reality hits when people find it so difficult to access what they need and make sense of what is available,” says Annie Stevenson, senior policy adviser (health and social care) for Help the Aged.”Because the provision of care is underfunded, some older people are not getting assessments when they need them, and others are receiving poor-quality or inadequate services.”Others are getting good services but are losing them … excellent care homes are having to close due to quality care being underfunded.”In Greater London, a residential home costs, on average, £394 a week, while a nursing home costs £510, according to market analyst Laing & Buisson.But anyone with assets of more than £18,500 – including their home – has to pay for their own care, except in Scotland. If an elderly relative goes into care permanently, the value of their property is disregarded for the first three months. But some 40,000 people still end up selling their homes every year to pay for LTC.The only exception is if a spouse, partner or relative over the age of 60 also lives at that address. If so, the property doesn’t have to be sold.Once the elderly person’s assets fall below £18,500, some state help is available, although the full cost of care isn’t covered until assets fall below £11,500.The situation is made even more confusing because the amount of state help available varies across the country And the definition of care doesn’t help. The state supports “nursing care” in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, which is the service provided, or super-vised, by a registered nurse.But “personal care” provided by healthcare assistants qualifies for state funding only on a strict means-tested basis.