Number of people living to 90 soars: How will they pay for social care - and will Burnham's plans stem the crisis?

More people are living into their 90s and will need support for longer, official figures have shown. The number of people aged 90 and over has soared by 54 per cent to around 580,000 over the past two decades, according to new official figures for England and Wales.There were also some 15,000 centenarians by 2025, up 90 per cent over the same period, the Office for National Statistics revealed.It comes as Prime Minister Andy Burnham launched a new attempt to fix social care in a speech on Wednesday. Burnham admitted previous Governments have failed to get a grip on the care system, and vowed to find a political consensus and win public backing for how it is delivered and funded in future.Speaking at a London care home, he acknowledged problems including pressure on the NHS, 'profiteering' and poor standards in some parts of the sector, and funding rules that see some families' property and savings wiped out to pay the bills.In the past Burnham has floated the idea of a 10 per cent 'death tax' on all estates to fund the social care system. Overhaul: Prime Minister Andy Burnham met care home residents during a visit to announce plans to change the social care systemNow he said he wanted to work with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats and was ready to 'give and take' to find common ground.However, he did not rule out tax rises, warned of 'difficult decisions', and said he would not be 'deflected by the point scoring or the screaming headlines'.Burnham asked Baroness Louise Casey to bring forward her care review to summer 2027. This will look at how to deliver and fund a 'National Care Service' to run alongside the NHS.The Prime Minister also said he had held initial talks with the Tories and Lib Dems.Who pays for care now?At present, someone in England who needs to go into a care home has to spend their own money and deplete their assets – including their home – down to £23,250 before they get help with care fees.If you need care in your own home, your assets must have dwindled to a level set by your local council, which cannot be lower than £23,250. However, the value of your home is excluded from this means test.The floor for assets before help from the state kicks in applies to England.Scotland offers free personal care, Wales runs a different means-tested system where people may have to pay up to £100 a week for non-residential care, and Northern Ireland has different rules again.You can get the NHS to pay for care based on health needs, but the assessments and red tape when applying for what is known as 'NHS continuing healthcare' are challenging.People do not have to sell their homes to pay for care if a spouse or certain other categories of people – relatives aged over 60 or under 18, for example – still live there. This is Money has guides to applying for NHS CHC and making an appeal if you are refused, written by expert James Urquhart-Burton, head of continuing healthcare claims at Winston Solicitors.Snowballing care home fees can wipe out assets'It is encouraging that the Prime Minister is determined to grasp the nettle of the provision and funding of social care,' says Lucie Spencer, a partner at wealth manager Evelyn Partners.'In a timely indication of the size of the challenge, data on the “very old” was released by the ONS this morning, revealing that the over-90s population of England and Wales stood at 581,414 in 2025 – a 3 per cent increase on the previous year and a 54 per cent increase on the 376,613 in this cohort just 20 years previously in 2005.'She added: 'What unnerves many of our clients and their families is the prospect of snowballing care home fees wiping out their finances and assets, and maybe even forcing a home sale.'Hundreds of thousands of families are navigating the care-funding maze themselves, and in many cases find that they must stump up the payments, often eating though carefully built-up savings, pensions and legacies in the process.'Around one in seven 65 year olds can expect to incur lifetime care costs of more than £100,000.'Independent health think-tank the Nuffield Trust said: 'The Prime Minister is absolutely right to try to call the country and political parties together in a conversation about social care.'This is everyone's business, whether it touches you, your family, or the people you live around, and the current state of affairs is completely unacceptable.'Getting the public onside through an honest conversation about the difficult choices ahead, and reducing the inherent political jeopardy around reform, will be essential if plans are to survive beyond the next election.'The Trust noted: 'Germany and Japan’s care systems both underwent major reform because their governments gained public backing.'Maike Currie, vice president for personal finance at PensionBee, said: 'The growth in centenarians marks a remarkable shift in British longevity.'Longer lives are something to celebrate, but they are also rewriting the rules of retirement.'Britain has shifted away from defined benefit workplace pensions, where employers carried much of the investment and longevity risk, towards defined contribution pensions, where individuals are responsible for how much they save, where their pension is invested and ensuring it lasts throughout retirement.'Living longer means our money has to work harder for longer too.'SIPPS: INVEST TO BUILD YOUR PENSIONAJ BellAJ Bell0.25% account fee. 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