Cap on Social Care costs scrapped?

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said, in his Autumn Statement speech, there were “very difficult times ahead for people and that he must delay a cap on social care costs by two years”

From October 2023, the government had planned to introduce a new £86,000 cap on the amount anyone in England has to spend on their personal care over their lifetime, but the policy is now being pushed back to 2025.

Mr Hunt admitted it was a “source of great regret” to delay capping costs on social care but the postponement of the cap means the government can increase funding to local authorities by £4.7 billion, which he describes as “the biggest ever increase in social care”.

Mr Hunt said he believes in reforms recommended by economist Sir Andrew Dilnot but insisted the cap on care costs is “not disappearing into the ether.” The next United Kingdom general election is scheduled to be held no later than January 2025 and even the most fervent conservative would struggle to convince me they will hold onto power after the fiasco of the past 12 months. A change of government will, no doubt, bring a fresh wave of ideas and proposals of how to solve the current funding crises in social care.  The result will, more than likely, take us one step forward and two back. Why am I so pessimistic? It is exactly what has happened throughout the past 35 years and in the current financial climate where record borrowing flourishes and the country is swallowed in debt, spending upwards of £8 billion, to solve bed blocking and pay for long term care, is neither sustainable nor achievable.

People need to stop grasping onto political party promises; they are empty. People who can pay for their own care will be required to pay and this, I believe, will be unlikely to change in my lifetime.