More than a quarter of elderly people in care homes are being forced to ask family and friends to come up with hundreds of pounds a month towards their bills even though they qualify to have them paid for, research from Age UK has claimed. Its research found that a total of 56,000 people in care homes in England and Wales now have to pay top-up fees because the amount that their local council is willing to pay falls far short of the amount the home says it needs to charge. It estimates that family and friends are being forced to choose between finding about £140 a week extra or settling for a substandard home or one further away.

The Daily Telegraph, 8th April, 2013