THERESA MAY launched a fierce defence of her social care revolution today as critics said the plans would leave pensioners “helpless”.
The Prime Minister insisted that asking wealthier OAPs to pay that bit more for their care to protect the poor was about “fairness” as Labour branded the Tories the ‘Nasty Party’.
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Theresa May said that asking wealthier pensioners to pay a bit extra for care to protect the poor was a matter of fairnessCredit: Reuters
As reported by the Sun yesterday, Mrs May will rip up David Cameron’s plans to ‘cap’ care costs in old age.
She will instead introduce a ‘floor’ to protect the last £100,000 of a pensioner’s savings or assets when they go into care – FOUR TIMES the current level.
To fund the shake-up, the Conservatives will end winter fuel payments for wealthier OAPs.
The £2 billion-a-year benefit will now be means-tested – in a victory for the Sun’s ‘Ditch Handouts for the Rich’ campaign.
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Theresa May has fiercely defended her plans for a social care shake-up from critics who said it would leave OAPs helplessCredit: PA:Press Association
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt yesterday said the shake-up meant everyone would know they can pass on £100,000 to their children.
The Tory said: “You could have a situation where someone who owns a house worth £1 million or £2 million, and has expensive care costs of perhaps £100,000 or £200,000, ends up not having to pay those care costs because they are capped.
“And those costs get borne by taxpayers and we don’t think that’s fair on different generations.”
The Demos think tank said that “hundreds of thousands of the poorest older people” will benefit from the shake-up.
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Jeremy Hunt said the new policy would help OAPs pass on £100,000 of their savings or assets to their childrenCredit: PA:Press Association
But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn branded it a “tax on dementia” given those who need long-term care could now run up mammoth bills.
Lib Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb said the elderly would “shudder” at the care cost proposals.
And furious economist Sir Andrew Dilnot said the elderly would be left “completely on their own”. The grandee six years ago proposed a cap of £35,000 on the amount an individual would have to pay for their own care during their lifetime.
Speaking yesterday he said: “People will be left helpless, knowing that what will happen is that if they are unlucky enough to suffer the need for care costs they will be entirely on their own until they are down to the last £100,000 of all of their wealth including their house.
He told the BBC: “I do feel very disappointed for all of us, the millions of people who are very, very anxious about this.
“And I’m a bit surprised, because what social care is, is a classic example of a market failure where the private sector cannot do what’s needed”
He said the whole proposal and ran counter to Prime Minister’s promise to step in when markets are broken – such as tackling the energy industry.
Sir Andrew said: “You could easily have care costs of £300,000 each if you are a couple; you are not able to cover that extreme risk which is what we all want to do faced with anything else which we can insure.
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Jeremy Corbyn has branded Theresa May's social care plan as a 'tax on dementia'Credit: Getty Images
“That’s the market failure and these changes do nothing to address that.”
Critics leapt on a change that will mean an estimated 670,000 people receiving care in their own home will face steeper bills.
Currently when a pensioner goes into residential care the value of their home is included in their assets – meaning the state can draw on the house equity once savings run out.
This rule will now also apply to so-called domiciliary care – care at home – for the first time. The Tories insisted that no one would be forced to sell their home outright while they are alive to pay for their care bill, or while a surviving partner lives in it.
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LBC callers said that this new social care policy convinced them to switch their votes away from the ToriesCredit: PA:Press Association
The National Pensioners Convention called it a “Frankenstein’s Monster of a plan” that still failed to tackle the crisis in social care.
Angry callers rang LBC to say they would now be switching their vote AWAY from the Conservatives.
Anna from Putney in South London said: “Theresa May has lost my vote now – It’s pure evil it’s definitely a death tax.”
But Claudia Wood, chief executive of Demos insisted it would ultimately be a positive move. She said: he Conservative manifesto pledges to change the means testing element of this – shifting the benchmark upwards so that those with assets worth more than £100,000 have to pay for all of their care.” Said Ms Wood.
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Sir Andrew Dilnot said that 'helpless' OAPs will be left on their own until they're down to their last £100,000 including their homesCredit: PA:Press Association
“This calculation includes the value of a person’s home, so the vast majority of home-owning older people will find they have to pay. This may seem unfair, but the current asset threshold is already very low (£23,250) – meaning not only all homeowners, but many social renters with modest retirement savings also have to pay for all of their residential care.
“The large jump in the threshold will means hundreds of thousands of the poorest older people will have access to partially or fully funded residential care for the first time.”
Challenged that the flagship reform was part of a “bleak” manifesto, the PM conceded there were “hard choices” she had been forced to make.
But she insisted: “If you look at what we’re doing, it’s the first time ever we have had a proper plan, a long-term plan for social care to ensure that old people have dignity in old age.
“And it’s a plan that’s fair across the generations.”
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