More than 60,000 homeowners are forced to sell up each year to pay for a place in a care home, according to a leading charity.
The figure has been rising fast because of the growing numbers of elderly Britons and the fact that many of those entering old age bought homes during the property booms of the past four decades.
However, an ever-increasing share of the wealth they hoped to leave to their families is being seized by the state to pay for their care in later life.
Last year half of the cost of care for the elderly - £6billion - was taken from the pockets of the middle classes who own their own homes or who have savings.
The 60,000 figure was made public yesterday by the charity Counsel and Care. It is to put forward plans for easing the plight of those who fail the state means test and so have to pay the £500-a-week plus costs of a care home place for themselves.
Counsel and Care’s estimate follows figures put forward by the House of Commons library, which suggested at the weekend that 45,000 people a year sell their homes to pay care home bills, a rise of 5,000 since 2003.
The charity’s estimate is closest to the 70,000 a year level that is widely accepted among advice and pressure groups and local authorities
24