Care reforms favour those in the South

BORIS JOHNSON’S social care reforms will “disproportionately” benefit the wealthy and people in the South, amid claims that the £86,000 cap on lifetime care costs will skew state support towards wealthier pensioners.

The Daily Telegraph understands modelling conducted by the Department for Health last year suggested people living in the South East stand to be on average just under £400 better off than those in the North East. This is because people with more assets, which are largely tied to their homes, will have to spend less of a proportion of their wealth before they hit the cap and the state starts to contribute to costs.

It suggests the impact of the cap could harm Mr Johnson’s popularity in the Northern “red wall” seats pivotal to his 2019 election success, as house prices tend to be lower than they are the South. The impact assessment was said to have been based on proposals put forward a decade ago by Sir Andrew Dilnot, who is the inspiration for Mr Johnson’s reforms.

Sir Andrew’s landmark report recommended capping lifetime care costs for individuals at between £25,000 and £50,000, with the state covering the rest. It recommended raising the asset threshold below which people would receive means tested state support towards the cost of their care from the current level of £23,250 to £100,000.

The Government has since opted to introduce a cap of £86,000 and a floor of £100,000, which the Prime Minister has argued will bring to an end the “catastrophic” care costs faced by millions of pensioners.