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A vote on an amendment to the Social Care Bill will be held later today (Monday November 22), which has come under some criticism.
There are plans for having a social cap at £86,000 on how much individuals will have to pay towards their own social care costs.
Once that £86,000 is hit the aim is for the local authority to step in and means test the individual needing care to see if they qualify for any additional help.
It was first proposed over 10 years ago by economist Sir Andrew Dilnot in a Government-commissioned review.
The cap aims to allow individuals hit by large social care costs to pass on more of their assets to their children.
MPs will vote later on a controversial amendment to the Social Care Bill which charities have warned will hit poorer people the hardest.
Under the new plans, personal care costs in England will be capped at £86,000.@ranvir01 reports from Westminster. pic.twitter.com/Xn0nNsWS8M
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) November 22, 2021
However, the Government has come under criticism as it is still likely that those who are not as wealthy will not have much benefit from this scheme.
What impact will the new social care bill have?
There could be a problem for many people who need social care as means-tested support from local authorities for lower income households will no longer go towards the £86,000 cap.
As a result of this, these families will need to spend more of their own money on care before they can hit the lifetime limit.
This is an alteration to Sir Dilnot’s original recommendations, and he criticised the Government’s plans in The Daily Mail, arguing that it meant the “less well-off will not gain any benefit from the cap”.
Financial expert Martin Lewis also slammed the proposal when he appeared on the Andrew Marr Show, breaking it down further.
He said: “Everyone had assumed they were going to follow Andrew Dilnot’s proposals because that was the language they talked about.
“Within the Dilnot proposals, there are two protections for people on social care. One is a cap: £86,000. You won’t have to pay more money than that.
“The other is the means test where the state will fund some of your social care and in his proposals the two interacted.
“What’s happened is that the Government said they’re not going to interact.
“So effectively what that means is it was thought that if you got means-tested support and the state paid for some of your social care, that would go towards your price cap along with any private funds you put in.
“But now, it won’t. If you’ve very wealthy you wouldn’t have got any means-tested support but those on lower incomes and with less wealth, the means-tested support doesn’t matter,” he added.
