Labour: Social care cap cost fears

Six out of seven elderly people will die before they reach the Government’s social care cap, Labour has warned.
New research published by shadow care minister Liz Kendall has claimed pensioners will pay closer to £150,000 for their residential care costs before they hit the cap, which is currently set at £72,000.

The cap is due to start in 2016/17 and will be based on the standard rate councils pay for a bed in a care home, rather than the amount self-funders are charged.

Care home Labour is warning reassurances over care costs are false.

According to Ms Kendall, the average council rate for residential care will be around £522 a week when the cap starts, but the average price of a care home bed will be around £610.

Pensioners in care homes will also have to pay around £230 a week for hotel and accommodation costs, which will be counted separately.

‘David Cameron has repeatedly claimed that no-one will have to pay more than £72,000 to pay for their care, but this simply isn’t the case,’ said Ms Kendall.

‘On average, pensioners will have to pay more than twice this amount, and the vast majority will have died before they hit the so-called “cap”.’