Critics of the so-called ‘dementia tax’ were delighted that the Queen’s Speech made no mention of the policy.
The proposal would have meant that the value of an individual’s home would have been taken into account for all types of elderly care.
However, while the Speech promised reform in this area, it stopped short of outlining a detailed strategy, instead suggesting that full plans would be published and consulted on at a later date.
The manifesto had outlined a new system for the way older people paid for care in the home or in care homes. However, under the plans, people who needed expensive care, such as for dementia, could have faced unlimited costs, with the only protection being that £100,000 of their estate would be left.
This proposal met with an outcry, particularly from high earners and those who had amassed a reasonable estate, amid fears that there would be little left to leave to their beneficiaries.
Prime Minister Theresa May was ultimately forced to clarify that costs for care would be capped after all, although she did not specify what that cap would be.
It is now likely that a Green Paper will be published at the end of the year on how changes to social care will progress
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