Peter Lazenby
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PENSIONERS were betrayed by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s postponement of a cap on the cost of social care in his Autumn Budget, the leading organisation of senior citizens said today.
Mr Hunt has delayed the introduction of an £86,000 cap on how much vulnerable people have to pay towards social care when they need it for two years.
Pensioners and the disabled are currently stripped of most of their life savings by payments towards their care. They can also lose their homes.
Due to be introduced in October 2023, the cap was first devised by Sir Andrew Dilnot more than a decade ago to ensure that older people did not lose all their savings and assets to pay for their care.
A comprehensive home care package can cost more than £6,000 a month and a similar amount for residential care.
The National Pensioners’ Convention (NPC) said that the failure to cap the amount which can be taken should be “immediately reversed.”
NPC general secretary Jan Shortt said: “The NPC shares Andrew Dilnot’s anger and totally agrees that there is no reason for the government to delay the care cap by another two years.
“This delay will mean an ongoing financial burden for many older people and others who need vital care.”
The NPC also wants an investigation into how much taxpayers’ money spent on social care goes to line the pockets of profiteering care companies.
Since the privatisation of social care began under the Thatcher government in the 1980s, the sector has been taken over mainly by profiteering giant care conglomerates.
The NPC wants the creation of a publicly owned National Care Service.
