Two recent government decisions will also affect the sector’s future. First, care workers that undertake what is an often demanding role will rightly receive the national living wage, but the government must ensure this is properly funded.
Second, the social care cap as proposed in the Dilnot Report – whereby an individual’s personal care costs were capped at a lifetime £72,000, with the government thereafter picking up the costs – has been deferred from 2016 to 2020. Some predict that the cap will not be introduced at all.
These are just two ways in which funding across the UK elderly healthcare market is set to change, and it is for that reason that investing in the sector requires an in-depth understanding of the macro trends, as well as careful analysis of the local market within which a particular care home operates.
Kenneth Mackenzie is managing partner at Target Advisers
