The latest government position on social care suggests that there will be no lifetime cap on care costs, as recommended in the Dilnot proposals, in the near future.
The refusal from ministers to commit to a lifetime cap, at the proposed level of £35,000 or any other level, appears to be the result of costs.
In the current economic climate, it is simply unaffordable.
A lifetime cap of £35,000 on care costs is thought to cost around £1.7bn a year to introduce.
Other options considered by the government include a higher than proposed lifetime cap, at £75,000.
They also considered asking those needing care to pay an upfront fee to benefit from a lower lifetime cap on care costs, with those not opting into this system continuing to face unlimited care costs.
What we did see announced yesterday was some changes to the rules associated with long term care, starting in 2015.
A new national standard will be introduced to set out the rules on who can benefit from assistance in their home and who gets residential care places. This would move the system away from the rules being set by each local authority, 152 of them in England.
This new national standard could result in more generous councils needing to tighten their criteria for access to care.
There will also be the option to defer to the payment for funding care until after death.
This loan scheme is already available in some local authority areas, and would enable those needing care to have the costs recovered from their estates on death. The loans would be subject to interest charges.
Care fees planning remains an incredibly complex area of financial advice. You should seek professional independent financial advice from a care fees specialist in the event that you or a relative requires care.
Photo credit: Flickr/My name’s axel
