Spouse Liability for a Partner's Long–term Care Costs: Local Variations in Policy and Practice in the UK

Under the 1948 National Assistance Act a husband and a wife are liable to maintain each other and so can be required to contribute towards a spouse's care home costs. A national postal survey of social services finance officers showed that only a minority of local authorities pursue liable spouses. These authorities have often developed individual policies with widely different treatment of capital and income. Discretion is being exercised in the pursuit of liable spouses within these authorities. Social workers do not necessarily bring liable spouses to the attention of finance officers and articulate and knowledgeable spouses can either decline to pay or pay only token amounts. Only the unlucky and ill–informed spouses end up contributing. Such variation in the treatment of spouses is at odds with the development of fairer policies to meet the costs of long–term care.