AN INSURER’S push for a private so-called “care pension” is “not the answer to the care crisis,” the National Pensioners Convention (NPC) said today.

Former pensions minister Steve Webb — who now works for insurance and pensions company Royal London — said there should be a way for people to put money aside to pay for care costs later in life.

The insurer has submitted a report to the government that calls for existing pensions drawdown arrangements to be combined with new insurance.

NPC national officer Neil Duncan-Jordan said that a tax-funded and collective scheme was the solution to the social care crisis.

“It’s a private savings option that he’s offering. You can call it a care pension if you want, but it’s just a private savings scheme.

“The fact is that people don’t have the spare capital to put away in the way that they would need to for this sort of scheme to survive.

“If you make it voluntary, people just won’t take it up because they don’t think they are the ones who need it.”

Mr Duncan-Jordan said Mr Webb’s idea was similar to Tory former pensions minister Ros Altmann’s “care ISA,” saying: “They dress it up in all sorts of ways but it’s the same meat, different gravy.

“This is not the answer to the care crisis. The answer is having it free at the point of delivery for those who need it and funded by all of us by increased taxation.”