10. The average weekly cost for supporting
a resident aged 65 or over in a local authority residential care
home in 1995-96 was £304, with around 45 per cent of authorities
having a unit cost between £251-£350. The methodology
for calculating the unit costs of residential care is to take
expenditure throughout a year and divide it by the average number
of supported residents at 31 March in consecutive years. Local
authorities who have appreciably changed their stock of homes
early or late in the year may have divergent costs from the norm
either because of small numbers of residents or because of the
"average" calculation method used.
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