Social Care Costs

Dear constituent,

Thank you for contacting me about the Government’s decision to amend the cap on lifetime contributions to social care costs.

This amendment, tabled by the Government as part of the Health and Care Bill, excludes means-tested council support payments from the lifetime limit on costs. This means that only the payments people make from their own pocket - not those from councils - would count towards the cap.

I voted against the amendment. In my view, it is a regressive measure that creates a north-south divide and leaves the poorest pensioners having to pay even more, something Sir Andrew Dilnot – who proposed the cap – explicitly ruled out because it was so unfair.

The Government said the change is necessary to ensure its reforms represent “a sustainable package from a financial perspective”. Yet the King’s Fund independent health think tank said the cap will leave people with low levels of wealth exposed to “very high care costs”.

Concerns have been raised, rightly in my opinion, that the change will leave people with moderate assets living in poorer areas forced to sell their home to pay for their care, while wealthier people from richer parts of the country will be protected.

While I joined my Opposition colleagues in voting against the amendment to the social care cap, it passed with the support of Government MPs.

The Government has refused to honour its 2019 manifesto commitment that the “prerequisite of any solution will be a guarantee that no one needing care has to sell their home to pay for it”. Instead – after a decade of cuts to local government and £8 billion lost from adult social care budgets – Ministers have legislated for tax rises to pay for reforms to the sector. This not only breaks the Government’s 2019 promise not to raise taxes, but it will hit working people hard. And in my view, the proposals will do nothing to improve the quality or provision of care.

Many care providers are at immediate risk of closing due to financial pressures and chronic staff shortages. Yet at the Autumn Budget and Spending Review in October, the Chancellor offered no direct funding for social care and there was no detailed plan for the workforce.

People in our constituency and across the country deserve better. I support a 10-year plan of investment and reform that will empower care users, improve social care and get better value for taxpayers.

Thank you once again for contacting me about this important issue.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Dowd MP