Nursing home fees are indeed £60-80k per year , BUT there’s a lot of caveats to that.
the average care home stay is 801 days, with 50% of residents dying within 450 days ( so there’s a long tail of long stayers in a small minority)
also, some people end up with funding for nursing needs, leaving “ only” care elements. My dad is at end of life. He has maximum nursing needs, on a section 117, so has funding for that. He has also spent all but 4 months of last 13 months in various nhs hospitals where he did not pay ( including being sectioned). He’s paying ( or LPOA is) fees of £1200 now, but it’s unlikely to be for more than months or weeks were told.
in 2025 the “ care cap” is supposed to be introduced, it’s been delayed countless times so could be again. At time it was set to £ 86k which was the average total spend. So, that also helps to indicate what total spend typically is. Though inflation will have affected that as set a long time ago now🤦♀️
. Ok, womens are considerably less, but average pension is now £18k net, due to interest on savings/investments being higher. That goes a little way to paying as well
so if you work on average stay, average pension, average fees and no cap in existences still, you’re talking around £117k to find from assets - not the £210k you state. And possibly less if there are nursing needs that are funded nearer end of life.
on the other hand my mum, maternal gm, we’re dead by 60 and nothing was spent on care. My gf dropped dead in his garden, after a lovely bit of tidying up, at age of 89! Despite what you hear or experience just 4% of population over 65 are in care homes, and even in over 85year olds that number is still only 15% .
yes, most over 85 need some support and that will need some of their money spent but attendance allowance helps
Some dementia types show SOME hereditary tendencies, but it’s not a clear picture. It is also a possibility that there’s a correlation in families with lifestyle or other inherited condition ( I.e sleep patterns, smoking etc) - but we’re still so far out from any clear epidemiological causes and effects.
aslo, people overlook that money will need to be spent long before care costs come into play. MIL has low income, Victorian house etc which will need any amount of maintenance work. Cars/ white goods/ electricals need to be replaced for a few years at least, holidays and travel paid for, the odd wedding and birth etc. without a large pension that will have to come from savings. When that runs out downsizing.or equity release. That’s why so many people end up doing equity release . In this case the house will have to be sold much quicker if MIL needs care cost covering
but mostly this is speculation. MIL is younger than me. And I’ve no idea what my kids will actually inherit! Life throws curved balls- I could have a big win on premium bonds, live the high life, die of heart attack in my garden and the kids will” have a big IHT bill 🤣🤣🤣🤣. But that ain’t my problem!
At end of day, anyone relying on an inheritance is naive imho!