A law firm has warned that thousands of families across England could miss out on the chance to claim back wrongly paid care home fees.
The Department of Health announced a new deadline for those wishing to claim back wrongly paid care home fees on 15 March 2012. But NewLaw Solicitors has warned that as this deadline for continuing care claims has been introduced without any effort to contact those potentially affected, it could result in thousands of families losing out.
The deadline will affect those who paid for their care between 1 April 2004 and 31 March 2011. Their claims will now need to be registered with the NHS by 30 September 2012 or they will lose the opportunity to claim forever.
People paying for their care between 1 April 2011 and 31 March 2012 will need to register their claim by 31 March 2013.
Scott Thomas, representative for the specialist Care Fees team at NewLaw Solicitors, said:
“According to estimates from Age Concern, approximately 100,000 people in the UK should qualify for continuing healthcare funding yet relatively few are aware that they are entitled to this support.
Under the current system, where a person has contributed to their fees for care from April 2004 onwards, they may be entitled to a reimbursement, even where the person who was cared for has since died.
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