A long-promised cap on social care costs is likely to be delayed again, as the new chancellor searches for “eye-watering” emergency cuts.
Jeremy Hunt is believed to be preparing to put back by at least one year Boris Johnson’s promise of an £86,000 ceiling on bills for conditions such as dementia – due to start in October next year.
The King’s Fund think tank urged Mr Hunt to “press ahead without delay”, fearing the cap will be abandoned altogether if he stalls, as happened when the idea was dropped in 2015.
But the go-slow was welcomed by the County Councils Network, which said it is “impossible” to introduce the reform during the current “perfect storm” of financial and staffing crises.
Pressing ahead would mean “making services worse and leading to longer waits for a care package for people on day one of their introduction”, the CCN said.
Its call will make it easier for Mr Hunt to slam on the brakes – but a delay will anger the Tory grassroots already braced for him to tear up a pledge to protect pension rises through the “triple lock”.
The new chancellor has previously criticised the focus on a cap on lifetime costs – to allow wealthy homeowners to pass on their properties to their children – at the expense of the day-to-day crisis.
He said, a year ago: “We’re going on a bit of a diversion. There is a crisis in social care and it’s not really about how we calculate eligibility for the cap – it’s about the funding that local authorities get.”
Liz Truss promised that the social care cap would go ahead – despite scrapping Rishi Sunak’s health and social care levy, which was meant to fund it.
But The Times reported that, after a meeting with officials over the weekend, the chancellor was said to be “minded to delay a year” from the planned start date of next October.
The Treasury is said to be keen to kill off the policy altogether, but Mr Hunt has spoken of his regret at failing to reform social care during his time as health secretary.
The changes would also mean no-one with assets below £20,000 will pay any social care costs – but, although there is a “floor” of £100,000, people with assets between £20,000 and that amount would contribute on a sliding scale.
Sally Warren, at the King’s Fund director of policy, said: “Previous plans to reform social care were dropped in 2015, when Jeremy Hunt was health secretary, when reform was delayed and then never happened.
“For the sake of all of us and our families who may need social care, he must not back away again from vital reform now, and should press ahead without delay.”
But Martin Tett, the CCN’s spokesperson for adult social care, said: “The County Councils Network has led calls for the proposed reforms in adult social care to be delayed by a year and we welcome reports that the government is actively considering this.”
