Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential effect of not including means-tested council funded support within the £86,000 cap on care costs on the number of people that will be unable to pay for social care without selling their home.
The Government’s reforms to the social care charging system will ensure that fewer people will be unable to pay for social care without selling their home, compared to the existing system. This is the case irrespective of whether means-tested council funded support is included in the cap.
In designing these reforms, we have prioritised a more generous means-testing system, which benefits those with moderate to low wealth. From October 2023, those with less than £100,000 of chargeable assets are now likely to receive financial help from the state. This is more than four times the current threshold of £23,250.