Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that social care is affordable for people with a terminal illness; and what recent estimate his Department has made of care costs for people with a terminal illness.

An individual’s care costs are determined by their care needs and not by their condition, therefore no such estimate has been made.

Those with terminal illnesses with the highest levels of complex, intense and unpredictable needs, who have been assessed as having a ‘primary health need’, will, if eligible, receive a package of fully National Health Service-funded ongoing care. A fast-track pathway exists for those with a rapidly deteriorating condition who may be nearing the end of their life.

For those not eligible for NHS-funded care, the recently announced social care reforms provides a far more generous means test from October 2023. People with less than £100,000 of chargeable assets who currently pay for all their own care are likely to receive some support from the state. This is more than four times the current limit of £23,250.