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An investigation for Today has revealed how government cash intended to cut patients' care bills is ending up in the pockets of private nursing homes.

One of the government's clarion calls was free nursing care for all.

Admittedly, it had taken them more than four years to produce an answer to the problem of long-term care, but in October they finally produced their plan for England. (The Scots had decided to do their own thing, more of that later).

The plan, backed by £100 million of extra funding, seemed straightforward enough. Elderly and disabled people in nursing homes who were paying for their own care, would be entitled to a rebate off their fees - £35 a week for those with minimal nursing input, £70 off for those with more needs and £110 for those who were highly dependent on nursing support. The money would be paid to home owners to pass on to their residents.

But our investigation shows that for many residents and their relatives the scheme is a sham. Two major nursing home chains, which together operate more than 200 homes, have in effect rejected the government system. One, Southern Cross, has decided to keep whatever is allocated for each resident from 17th February onwards - while Westminster Health Care is reducing all its residents' fees by just £35 even if they are assessed as having a right to £70 or £110 off their fees.

Add to that numerous single owned homes which are putting up their fees in line with the extra government money and it is clear that thousands of those who were expected to benefit will see little or no benefit at all.

There are also strong criticisms of the way the scheme was introduced. Some families say they were not kept informed and even now have no idea why their relative was placed in one of the lower bands.

The homes argue that, far from being greedy, they have been told to work an unworkable system. They point to the fact that many homes are going out of business because public funding for the majority of residents who cannot pay their own fees is so low. They also point out that their costs have risen sharply with the introduction of the minimum wage and the imposition of new standards of accommodation.

Whatever the reasons, this scheme is not working for many elderly people who were promised that the government would help them so that they did not have to sell their own homes or watch as their life savings disappeared. In truth, the scheme in England was always limited - even £110 only buys a few hours of nursing care.

The Scottish Executive have gone further, accepting the main recommendation of the Royal Commission on Long Term Care set up by Labour when it came to power in 1997. As a result, old people in their own homes as well as residential and nursing homes are being promised free personal care, which includes help with activities such as washing, dressing and feeding which do not need to be given by a qualified nurse.

The government now says it has only recently realised that some home owners in England might not be operating the scheme as intended. The minister will now be writing to the companies involved. That is unlikely to satisfy the growing number of critics among home owners, elderly people and their relatives. Many now believe that government underfunding of social care is not only unjust but places ever more pressure on hospitals thereby threatening government's efforts to reform the NHS.

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