More than a third of over-45s have underestimated the annual cost of a residential care home by over £7,000, Partnership has said.
The Care Annuity provider has tracked actual versus perceived cost of a residential care home to measure whether people realise how much they will have to pay a year in care home fees.
The average cost of a care home in the UK is £27,612 a year. However, over a third (37%) of UK adults surveyed believed fees added up to less than £20,000 a year.
With a cap on care fees of £72,000 to be implemented by 2016, a significant number of people surveyed were becoming increasingly aware of the costs, the research suggests.
However, under two-fifths (38%) still believe the state will meet care costs which suggests that under the current system as well as the system proposed under the Care Bill, many will face "a nasty financial shock", Partnership has said.
On average, those in the South East (-£1,955) and East Midlands (-£1,898) are the least aware of the actual cost of care while those in the West Midlands (+£3,199) and North West (+£2,571) over-estimate how will need to be paid.
Chris Horlick, managing director of care at Partnership (pictured) said: "While it is good news to see the typical person over 45 only under-estimates the average cost of residential care by £400 per year, if you dig into the figures a much more concerning picture becomes apparent.
"Despite the publicity over the last few years, 38% of people continue to believe that the state will pay for their care and 37% under-estimate the cost of residential care by over £7,000 per year.
"This suggests that for a large cohort of people when they either need to arrange their own care - or sort out care for a family member - they will be faced with paying substantially more than anticipated."
