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Health minister Stephen Ladyman has claimed there is "mounting evidence" that money allocated for free personal care in Scotland ends up in the pockets of people who own care homes not those of older people.

Ladyman told a Fair Rate to Care conference in London that the Scottish system, which entitles over-65s to free nursing and personal care, "transfers income and wealth to the better off at the expense of those most in need".

He said he was not convinced that conceding to demands from care homes for increased rates per bed would make any difference to care home capacity or raise standards, or that a funding increase to councils would necessarily be passed on to care home owners.


"While many local councils are using the increased resources central government has already given them to increase fees to care homes, others are not," he said.

"Problems occur where councils fail to commit the additional resources central government has given them to stabilise their care home market and choose to spend the additional resources elsewhere."