A WARRINGTON family has starred in a national campaign to warn many about huge care bills that could hit families across the country.

Linda Howatson, 73, from Latchford, featured alongside her daughter, Tracey Tyrell, 47, and granddaughter, Ella Howatson, 21, in the campaign to raise awareness of the current national elderly care crisis.

During the video campaign, delivered by elderly care alarm manufacturers Taking Care, Linda spoke with Tracey and Ella about the challenges of growing older as well as her potential future care needs.

The campaign #HaveTheTalk hopes to inspire other families to have the same open and honest conversations so that families can prepare for the costs of care bills that may creep up in the future – with data revealing 1 in 2 adults have not had the conversation about care with their elderly parents.

Speaking on the importance of the growing older conversation, Linda said: “You don't want to discuss that part, because you think it won't come.

"I was the same when I was younger. You think your mum's always going to be there, but, you know, you don't want to see it. You don't want to look that far ahead."

Sobering data from the initiative also revealed that many brits are set to be hit with ‘unexpected’ care bills costing within the region of £200,000 to £240,000 due to the lack of financial preparation towards care plans.

Highlighting some of the challenges people face as they age, Linda added: "The first thing that you'll notice when you're older is the stairs. That's the first thing.

"I like to be organised, and I don't want you to worry about anything when I die. And you don't want to burden other people with the care."

"I know she'll do her best for me and if she can't cope, I don't expect her to. What will be will be."

Linda, Tracey and Ella have taken part in the campaign to have 'the talk' about elderly care so that they're better prepared for the future. The family hopes that their conversation will inspire others to do the same. 

The average care home cost in the UK is £1,160 per week, working out at around £60,320 a year and for nursing homes, the cost is even more, with average costs sitting around £1,410 a week or £73,320 per year.

With a typical stay in care home for over 75s being approximately four years according to Census data, an average care home stay could cost Brits as much as £240,000-£290,000.

While the government has plans to implement a social care cap of £86,000 – meaning no one will pay more than this amount for their social care during their lifetime - this won’t be coming into effect until October 2025. As a result, many Brits will still need to cough up for their elderly care in the meantime.

Lauren Frake, an elderly care expert from Taking Care has revealed how care home costs will eat into millennials inheritance – and what families can do to mitigate this: “Despite reports that suggest Millennials are on course to become the “richest generation in history” due to cash rich Boomer parents, this isn’t necessarily the case, with unplanned-for care costs likely to make a significant dent in inheritance.

“Our estimations show that a typical stay in a care home can cost as much as £60,000 a year, or even more for individuals with complex care needs like dementia, and millennials will no doubt need to factor in these types of costs when looking at what they may inherit from their parents.

“Elderly care plans are a crucial step in planning for the future, yet our research shows that many families in the UK simply aren’t preparing for this by avoiding having conversations about care needs with their elderly parents. By not talking about what future care will look like for their parents, UK families are also keeping themselves unaware of the realities of care costs – meaning that when the time comes to start paying these costs, they’ll be a big shock to budgets and financial planning.

“Whilst care homes provide an essential solution to the care needs of elderly people across the UK, there are preventative steps that can be taken to keep elderly people living safely at home for longer – such as assistive technology and in-home carers. However, these preventative measures can’t be implemented if people simply won’t have open conversations about it.

“Our #HaveTheTalk campaign encourages people to speak with relatives sooner about their future care and support wishes to help them better prepared for the future. By having conversations about care earlier, people can properly plan both financially and logistically for whatever the future might hold.”