Tories are warned over support for care plan
THE Government has been warned not to take for granted that its MPs will back its social care reforms, after Health Secretary Sajid Javid promised “everyone, doesn’t matter where they live in the country, will be better off” under the plans.
Ministers have come under fire for changes to proposals which, critics have said, will mean poorer recipients of care, including those in the north of England and in areas with lower house prices, will be hit hardest by a cap on costs.
The Observer reported yesterday that senior Tory MPs were urging the Prime Minister to ditch the plans or risk being forced into a U-turn without their support in a vote due in the Commons today.
Speaking to Times Radio, Christian Wakeford, Tory MP for Bury South (in the so-called Red Wall), said he was “not particularly happy” with the plans. He said: “When we were talking about the tax increase, the levy introduction, whichever term you want to refer to it as, we borrowed a lot of money because of Covid, the NHS is in very stark contrast to where it was pre-pandemic.
So I wasn’t necessarily against an increase.
“What I wanted to see was a plan and it feels like we didn’t have one then; I’m not fully sure we’ve got one now, but then to change, to move the goalposts after we’ve already been introduced this, it’s not something I’m particularly comfortable with.
“Especially when one of the main messages for introducing this levy was, you won’t need to sell your house for care, to get to a point where unfortunately you might need to and (it’s) arguably our least welloff in society, our least well-off voters, again it’s not something I’m particularly comfortable with.”
In September, the Government announced that an £86,000 cap on care costs would be put in place from October, 2023. It also said that people with assets up to £20,000 will not have to contribute anything to their care (up from £14,250), while those with assets up to £100,000 will be eligible to receive some local authority support (up from £23,250).
In a policy paper released last
Wednesday, though, the Government said that for people who receive financial support for part of their care from their local authority, only the share they contribute themselves will go towards the £86,000 cap.
Care groups said the change would mean such households receiving “far less protection than expected”, and that they could still face catastrophic costs that would eat up a greater share of their assets compared with wealthier recipients.
Labour said its analysis had shown the changes would mean the average homeowner in two-thirds of northern areas will have to pay more towards their care. Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “Government ministers have not only whacked up tax on working people but are now asking MPs to vote for pensioners across the North and Midlands with modest assets to be hit hardest under Boris Johnson’s care con.
“Red Wall Tories should learn the lessons of the past two weeks, put their constituents first and join us in voting down this deeply unfair proposal.”