Many in Devon and Cornwall will still pay heavily for social care, despite reform
Westcountry pensioners still face large bills for care in old age despite an historic reform to cap the costs of paying for residential and nursing homes.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt yesterday confirmed in the House of Commons a £75,000 cap on social care – more than double the £35,000 suggested by the independent Dilnot commission two years ago.
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But the cap covers only the cost of personal and nursing care. It does not include "accommodation" costs for bed and board, food and heating, with some estimating those costs could easily hit £150,000. A separate annual cap of £12,500 will be placed on these, which the individual will have to pay.
In addition, the means-testing threshold for state help will be increased to £123,000 of savings and assets, from a meagre £23,250.
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In the round, it means an individual with more than £123,000, including equity in their home, will pay all personal care costs until the £75,000 cap is reached.
Given soaring house prices in the region in the last decade, raising the means-testing threshold will still mean many in the Westcountry pay large sums for their care. The average house price in Devon is £242,374 and £221,024 in Cornwall.
Mr Hunt said the reforms will begin in 2017 and have been driven by up to 40,000 people a year having to sell their houses to pay for their care costs.
But the National Pensioners Convention claimed the reforms would help just one-in-ten of those needing care.
Andrew George, Liberal Democrat MP for St Ives, said many in the region were "property-rich but income- poor", so the reforms were welcome. But the Cornwall MP, who serves on the Commons health select committee, called for ministers to be "honest on real costs".
He added: "When people plan for the worst-case scenario, they should be fully aware that the costs may be a great deal more than £75,000.
"As people would still have to pay for their 'board and lodging' costs in a residential nursing or care home, the eventual bill could be more than twice the £75,000 cap.
"Raising the eligibility threshold for free care from the present £23,500 of assets to £123,000 will be particularly welcome."
Former health minister Ben Bradshaw, Exeter Labour MP, said the £75,000 cap was "very high" and will mean "most people in the Westcountry who currently have to fund their care still will".
He added: "The Government needs to explain why they have set the cap at twice the level recommended by the Dilnot report."
But Sarah Newton, Conservative Truro and Falmouth MP, said establishing the principle of a cap made the announcement a "landmark day".
"If the financial situation improves, the cap could go down," she added. But she said raising the means-testing threshold was hugely significant as "people on modest incomes who have worked all their lives only to see those savings go or lose their home to pay for their care" will be helped.
The £1 billion reform will be funded by dragging more people into inheritance tax.
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