"A number of people have became state-funded that need not have done," she said. "[Access to financial advice] would have meant companies got a higher influx of private payers. If they had been able to protect a private fee stream they would not be so reliant on low local authority funding."
A recent report by care home owner Bupa suggested that local authority cut backs could see the loss of 81,000 care home beds over the next ten years. It warned that providers with large levels of debts could fail.