Will it ever be fixed? Social care reforms delayed AGAIN

MINISTERS were condemned last night after much-needed reforms to social care were delayed yet again.

The Department for Health admitted the green paper – originally due to be published in July, then pushed back until the autumn – would not be published until January at the earliest.

The delay comes as tens of thousands of older Britons face sky-high social care bills that deny their children much of their inheritance. At present, care recipients are liable for the full costs until their savings – including wealth tied up in property – are down to just £23,250.

The announcement comes seven years after a social care commission first suggested a cap on costs. Sources blamed the delay on Brexit squeezing

out other issues in the Commons. It follows the postponement of another major piece of policy – Britain’s new immigration system – earlier this week.

Labour’s social care spokesman Barbara Keeley said: ‘The Tories are so mired in their own bungled Brexit negotiations that they have yet again delayed their social care green paper, which is already one year overdue, leaving older and vulnerable disabled adults to pay the price of their inaction.’

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the green paper is ‘very well advanced’, adding he wanted to ‘make sure it gets the attention it deserves’.