Farmers need to have their questions ready for politicians when they arrive on their doorsteps. They need to put pressure on candidates to work for the landmark Fair Deal, or Nursing Homes Support Scheme, reform that was much vaunted last summer and worked hard for by farming organisations.

Ask how much they know about the anomalies in the current scheme. Ask if they are aware of the hardship some families are experiencing and the fears there are for the future viability of many farms under the present rules of the scheme. Ask if they will work to have the badly needed reform legislation passed if they are elected?

Promises, promises

There were promises that the much-needed legislation would come before the Oireachtas in 2019, but it didn’t happen. Brexit preoccupation is being blamed for much of it. In the meantime, many farm families with loved ones in nursing homes are under financial stress as there is no cap to the amount of money that can be required from a farm or business to pay nursing home fees should the person live a long time in residential care.

With a principal private dwelling there is a three-year cap – 7.5% each year or 22.5% in total – but there is no such cap on farm assets. Live a long time in a nursing home and land – even the farm – might have to be sold to pay the bills. If there is debt on a farm to start with, the financial stress is even more acute.

Currently small businesses and farmers must set aside 7.5% of the value of their land every year to keep their loved one in a nursing home. That’s a tall order.

Three-year cap on farm assets

The proposed changes, itemised in the Fair Deal reform bill that was published on 11 June 2019 were expected to cap farm (and other business) assets at three years. This would have meant that no more than 22.5% of the value of the farm could be swallowed up in nursing home payments.

Currently there is no cap on the contributions to the cost of care based on farm and business assets except where the owner has suffered a sudden illness or disability and needs residential care.

The good news (we thought) last June was that the Government had approved the cap of three years being implemented where a family successor has committed to working the productive asset.

The draft heads of bill were being worked on, we were told. Legal advice was being sought. Farm organisations had, of course, lobbied ministers strongly to prioritise the legislation needed to give effect to these reforms.

While the average length of time a person is in a nursing home is three years (the original scheme cost assessments were based on this in 2009) in many cases the time spent in residential care can be much longer.

Welcome reform

There were solid reasons for a three-year cap being welcomed with Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) Farm Family chair Caroline Farrell saying it would provide more certainty for farming families.

“The new legislation has been awaited since 2018. The idea was that the charge on the land would cease after three years, if there was a successor working it.

This would have removed a great deal of stress and worry from affected families

“This would mean that a State pension would cover the cost of a person in a nursing home in their fourth year there. Eighty per cent of the pension would be paid out with the other 20% used for everyday expenses.”

“This would have removed a great deal of stress and worry from affected families and allowed them to plan for the future, without being afraid of losing the farm or having to sell a lot of land to pay the nursing home bills.”

All farm organisations pointed out that in the event of a farmer having to go into a nursing home for a long-stay condition like Alzheimer’s, that the lack of an upper limit on the charges that the State would make against his or her farm would mean, effectively, that the whole value of the farm could be “eaten up” by the nursing home charges.

Five-year rule

A worry for young farmers taking over a farm related to a possible charge against the property if it hadn’t been transferred more than five years before. With many farms asset-rich but cash-poor a charge of 7.5% per annum is a looming liability for young farmers and can impact negatively on their access to credit for investment in their farms.

As it stands, the whole value of the farm could be overtaken by the charges the State could make against the farmer’s estate under Fair Deal depending on how long the person lives in residential care.

With no legislation passed yet to firm up the changes mooted by the reform bill farming families continue to be in a precarious financial position.

The new rules, had they become law, would also have specified that the family successor must have been working regularly on the farm for “a substantial part of their working day” for three out of the five years prior to their relative entering the nursing home.

As before, all property would remain exempt from nursing home charges if it has been transferred to a successor

Another change mooted was that if a farm was sold on or leased within six years of a person entering a nursing home a “claw back” clause was expected to be enforced. Until the legislation is passed all that is only hearsay.

As before, all property would remain exempt from nursing home charges if it has been transferred to a successor at least five years before the farmer enters a nursing home.

The bill would have had to pass through both houses of the Oireachtas to become law. With the election it is unknown how long it will be before the heads of Bill will come before the Dáil. In the meantime, families remain in financial limbo.

The Fair Deal Scheme supported 23,042 people in nursing homes in 2019 at a cost of €985.8m – an increase of €24.3m on the 2018 budget.

In August 2019, the Government announced a €17m bailout to avert growing delays in accessing the scheme.

The HSE Health Service Plan published in December 2019 announced that €26m would be added to the €70m already budgeted for and would support a further 1,300 people with an expected waiting time of four weeks.

The IFA wants enacting the Nursing Home Support Scheme (amendment) bill to be a priority for the next Dáil, no matter which parties are in power. “This is unfinished business. Families cannot be financially penalised because of delays in the legislative drafting process. We want the three-year cap that was promised back in July 2018 and we want it prioritised by the next Dáil,” says Caroline Farrell.

What to ask politicians on your doorstep: