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Finding a fair and equitable system of paying for long-term residential or nursing home care remains a major policy issue at the beginning of the 21st century. The system of means-testing and the obligation to sell property are widely resented. Worse, there are startling differences between local authorities in the way the law is interpreted. This report explores the experiences of older people who self-fund their residential or nursing home care. It finds that for frail older people and their relatives, choosing and paying for long-term care is fraught with confusion over the legal complexities. Based on a national survey of English and Welsh local authorities, case studies, and interviews with care home providers, self-funding residents and their relatives, "Asset stripping": shows a wide variation in local authority policies and practices; describes conflicts between local authorities and independent sector care home providers; raises questions about the well-being of frail older residents in the current tense market situation; and questions the lack of impartial advice for older homeowners about the alternatives to care home admission and about the different types of care home. This report should prove valuable to social service department staff, social work and social policy students, care home providers, organisations campaigning on behalf of older people, older people themselves and their relatives.