May ‘pirouettes’ on dementia tax
CONSERVATIVE leader Theresa May has announced U-turn over her plans for a “dementia tax”.
Mrs May said there would be a cap limiting the amount people will need to pay for care in their own home.
Speaking in Wales, she insisted this had always been the plan – but no such cap was promised in the party’s election manifesto published less than a week ago.
Abandoning a manifesto pledge in the middle of a general election campaign undermines Mrs May’s claim to offer “strong and stable” leadership.
It follows the announcement that a Tory government would require people receiving social care in their own home, including people with dementia, to pay for it through the value of their property.
At the moment, people with significant assets such as money in the bank are already expected to pay – but the value of their home is not included when their assets are calculated.
In practice, the policy set out in the manifesto would mean that many family homes have to be sold once a person receiving care dies. Although they could stay in the home as long as they live, the inheritance they leave their children might be dramatically cut.
But introducing a cap on the amount people have to pay – the change announced by Theresa May – would reassure people that they will still able to leave a significant sum to their children.
It means the Conservatives have announced a U-turn on a manifesto pledge before the election has even taken place.
The Conservative plan already allowed people to stop paying for care once their assets fall below £100,000.
Mrs May said that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had misled people about the Conservative plans, and pointed out that the Government was due to hold a consultation about the proposals – something that governments do with almost any new policy.
She said: “This manifesto says that we will come forward with a consultation paper, a government green paper.
“And that consultation will include an absolute limit on the amount people have to pay for their care costs.”
Labour said the announcement suggested Mrs May was incapable of delivering the stability she has promised.
Gateshead Labour candidate Ian Mearns said: “This doesn’t just show that Theresa May isn’t the ‘strong and stable’ leader she claims to be, but she’s actually doing pirouettes when it comes to policy.
“This manifesto has all the hallmarks of the car crash budgets we saw under George Osborne.
“They are expecting people to have a lot of confidence in them as they change policy on the hoof repeatedly”.
He said the Conservative plans effectively amounted to an inheritance tax far higher than anything Labour had proposed.
Labour had dubbed the policy a “dementia tax”, on the grounds that it meant people with dementia have to pay while those receiving long-term care for other medical conditions might not.
And opinion polls showed the gap between Labour and the Conservatives narrowing – with the social care policy apparently playing a role in reducing the Tory lead.
Polling company Survation put Theresa May’s party on 43 per cent and Labour on 34 per cent, a lead of nine points for the Conservatives and significantly down on earlier polls.
And the survey found people were more likely to say Labour had the best policies for older people and the NHS.
Tim Farron, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, launched what he called a national movement calling on people, irrespective of their party affiliation, to stop the “dementia tax”.
Writing to the leaders of leading health and older peoples’ charities, he said: “The measure of a Government is how they treat the most vulnerable in our society. I don’t think that the Conservatives are unaware of the impact of their plans but they chose to ignore the human cost.
“Every elderly person that needs care should receive it in the best place for them.”