Age UK response to Government’s announcement on changes to the social care cap

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK said:

“The change the Government has announced makes the overall scheme a lot less helpful to older people with modest assets than anyone had expected. It waters down Sir Andrew Dilnot's original' proposal to save the Government some money, but at the cost of protecting the finances of older home owners who are not terribly affluent if they need care for a long time. This feels like completely the wrong policy choice and we are extremely disappointed that the Government has made it - and that it is only announcing it now, rather than two months ago when the Prime Minister set out his plan. Unfortunately, its impact is such that it is more than a mere 'tweak'.

"The Government was already under fire for making the design of its cap insufficiently progressive, but their proposed change tilts the balance further away still from providing this kind of support to the older people who need it the most - those who have built up some assets over their working lives but are still by no means well off, plus those older people living on their State Pension with few if anyone savings at all. When this change is factored in it becomes clear that the cap will disproportionately benefit those living in the South, rather than the North, where house prices are that much lower, flying in the face of the Government's 'levelling up' agenda. Its practical impact is that fewer older people will be able to pass on an inheritance to their loved ones in poorer areas than had been hoped because their care bills will take all the money they have, and that's a real shame."