TOWN halls will be forced to allow elderly people to defer residential care bills until after their death, as part of Labour plans to end the “cruel lottery” in social care.
The move is designed to head off criticism that a promised “National Care Service” – to free everybody from the threat of having to sell their home, when they move into care – has been delayed for five years.
Health Secretary Andy Burnham shelved the idea yesterday after the Tories branded a proposed £20,000 compulsory levy to pay for it a “death tax”, in a high-profile poster campaign.
Instead, Labour will go into the election promising only to pay care bills after the first two years in a home, an £800m measure that will help around 60,000 people – mainly dementia sufferers – from 2014.
Elderly people, with assets above £23,000, would still be required to pay an average £12,000-a-year for the first two years in care, plus accommodation costs, but with the option of making payments from their estate after death.
Yesterday’s proposals were branded a “train crash” by the Conservatives, who accused Labour of promising free care for all in the long term, with no idea how to pay for it.
