Tories pledge to revive social care cap – and reject Burnham plan

The Conservatives are set to reject Andy Burnham’s plan for a National Care Service and instead propose introducing a cap on social care costs to allow pensioners to keep their family homes, The i Paper has been told. A social care cap would place a lifetime limit on care costs, after which the state would step in to cover the rest – meaning fewer people would be forced to sell their homes to pay for care. However, the Conservatives’ approach to social care would put them at odds with Andy Burnham’s plans for a National Care Service free at the point of use. Shorts A senior Conservative source said the party was attracted to a model that would protect family homes from being sold, but acknowledged there would have to be limits. “Really wealthy people can’t keep every penny,” the source said. The source also dismissed the Prime Minister’s hopes of securing a cross-party deal on social care, saying: “There will be no consensus on social care. We want different things.” It means the fraught issue of how to fund and manage social care could become a major battleground at the next general election. While most agree the current system, which can see people having to sell their homes to pay for end of life care, needs to change, the Prime Minister was hoping to form cross party consensus. However, much would depend on where the cap was set. Too high and it could still mean many people will struggle to pay or be forced to sell assets. Burnham is proposing to fund the new National Care Service by scrapping the triple lock, which raises the state pension each year by the highest of inflation, earnings growth or 2.5 per cent. Under Burnham’s proposal, pensions would instead rise by at least inflation, average earnings growth or 2.5 per cent while remaining linked to earnings over the longer term – saving around £15bn a year by the end of the 2030 and rising to £50bn a year by 2050. While it has not yet been decided whether the Conservatives will make a clear commitment on social care funding in the party’s next manifesto, senior Tories claim Burnham’s plans are already starting to unravel. The Government says its free personal care offer will not cover “bed and board” in care homes, meaning people may still face significant accommodation and living costs. More fundamentally, the Government has confirmed that free personal care will initially apply only to people aged 65 and over, leaving working-age disabled people out of the commitment. Working-age disabled people make up around a third of social care users and can face much higher charges. The Government says wider reforms, including for working-age adults, will be considered following Baroness Casey’s social care commission. Social care reform long-awaited Social care funding has been a difficult political issue for successive governments, with proposals to reform the system having repeatedly been announced, delayed, amended or abandoned. The Dilnot Commission, established in 2010 and chaired by economist Andrew Dilnot, proposed a cap on how much people would have to pay towards their care over their lifetime, alongside a more generous means test. The coalition government accepted the principle and legislated for a cap, but its introduction was repeatedly delayed and ultimately postponed indefinitely. In the 2017 election, Theresa May’s manifesto proposed a £100,000 capital floor for means-tested support and initially dropped the proposed cap on care costs, while also proposing to include people’s homes in the means test for care received at home. The proposals were quickly dubbed a “dementia tax” by critics. A cap was subsequently added during the election campaign, although its level was not specified. Plans for an £86,000 lifetime cap on social care costs were further delayed by successive Tory governments, before Labour scrapped the reforms after being elected in July 2024. Battle for the ‘grey vote’ With Burnham proposing to break the pensions triple lock from 2030 to fund a new social care system, the battle for the “grey vote” is heating up – with Labour and the Conservatives now setting out competing offers on pensions, care and inheritance. It’s against this backdrop that Kemi Badenoch used her conference speech in Birmingham to pledge to scrap inheritance tax on family homes. Under the proposals, the individual threshold would rise from £325,000 to £500,000, while the existing £175,000 residential property allowance would be replaced. This would allow an individual to pass on up to £500,000 of assets, on top of their family home, without paying inheritance tax – or up to £1m for a couple. One Tory MP told The i Paper the inheritance tax cut risked freezing the top of the housing market by discouraging older people from downsizing and instead maximising the amount of their wealth put into their homes to avoid tax. But a Tory spokesman said Badenoch’s plan to abolish stamp duty – outlined at last year’s conference – would “counter balance” the policy as the tax is a “big disincentive to downsize”. Labour chairwoman Bridget Phillipson said: “The Tories haven’t changed. “Kemi Badenoch has shown that the Tories’ choice is to do nothing to help ordinary families struggling with the cost of social care, prioritising the wealthiest instead.” The Liberal Democrats claimed there was a £33bn “black hole” in the Tories’ policy pledges. The party says its own analysis suggests the Conservatives have racked up £61.8bn in tax cuts and spending pledges but only put forward £28.8bn in claimed savings to pay for them. Tory officials disagreed with the analysis, saying its savings amount to £83.3bn, against commitments of £46bn.