Tory Social care 'poll tax' will only help the wealthy -Mulholland
March 9, 2010 12:01 AM
Greg Mulholland, MP for Leeds North West, has concerns that the Tory social care 'poll tax' will only help the wealthy. Serious concerns have been raised about Conservative plans for an £8,000 payment for residential care after figures released today by the Liberal Democrats have revealed that 3.5m pensioner households (66%) do not have assets of £8,000 excluding their homes.
The figures, released ahead of tomorrow's cross-party social care conference, undermine Conservative claims that their plans would enable older people to pass their homes on to their children as two thirds of pensioner households would have to sell or release equity from their homes to pay for the private insurance scheme.
The figures reveal that:
* 63% of pensioner couple households (1.4m) do not have non-housing assets of £16,000 (cost of insurance to cover both pensioners)
* 71% of single female pensioner households (1.6m) do not have non-housing assets of £8,000
* 64% of single male pensioner households (600,000) do not have non-housing assets of £8,000
Commenting, Greg said:
"The Conservative social care plans are unworkable, unfair and unaffordable for the majority of pensioners in this country and do nothing to pay for the costs of care at home.
"The new proposals are basically a 'poll tax'. Many people on modest means will be asking why the Tories think it is fair that they should pay the same amount for care as multi-millionaires.
"David Cameron needs to start being honest with older voters. Most couples don't have a spare £16,000 to cover an insurance premium and it's incredibly dishonest to say this proposal will stop people from having to sell their homes to pay for care.
"Whoever wins the next election cannot avoid the fact that we're facing a crisis in funding for care. What we need is a long-term solution which is both fair and affordable in the long-term."
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