£35,000 cap on care costs a “long way off”

THE massive cost of capping care charges for the elderly at £35,000 will prevent it taking place soon says Councillor Phil Harrison, Oldham’s cabinet member for adults, social care and health.

The call for a cap on costs came in a Government-commissioned review which gave its recommendations yesterday.

But Councillor Harrison told the Chronicle: “I don’t see George Osborne (the Chancellor) moving very fast on this because of the cost implications.”

He said the call from the Commission on Funding of Care and Support for the savings threshold before people must pay for their own care to be raised from £23,500 to £100,000 would also have serious cost implications for the country.

And he added: “I would imagine it is going to be a long time before the Government would make such recommendations.

“To commit to these sorts of figures is going to be difficult. It just won’t happen immediately.”

The reforms would cost the Government around £1.7 billion a year, and the commission said they would ensure that nobody requiring residential care in retirement would have to spend more than 30 per cent of their assets paying for it.

The Government is yet to give its official verdict on the proposals, although the costs involved may prove a stumbling block at a time of public spending cuts.

Economist Andrew Dilnot, who chaired the commission, said: “The current system is confusing, unfair and unsustainable. People can’t protect themselves against the risk of very high care costs and risk losing all their assets, including their house.

“This problem will only get worse if left as it is, with the most vulnerable in our society being the ones to suffer.

“Under our proposed system, everybody who gets free support from the state now will continue to do so and everybody else would be better off.

“Putting a limit on the maximum lifetime costs people may face will allow them to plan ahead for how they wish to meet these costs.

“By protecting a larger amount of people’s assets, they need no longer fear losing anything,” he said.