New plans to recoup some of the cost of care for the elderly after death have been unveiled in the Conservatives’ general election manifesto.
Wealthy pensioners will lose up to £300 in winter fuel payments and more elderly people could be forced to pay to be looked after in their own homes under Theresa May’s plans to tackle the social care funding crisis.
In Scotland, the SNP government has maintained a policy of free personal care, but the change in England and Wales could set a precedent for the future.
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has defended the manifesto proposal.
He said: “Everyone will have the security of knowing they can pass on £100,000 to their children and grandchildren.
“At the moment, you can be cleaned out to as little as £23,000 so that’s four times more.
“We are saying that to pay for that there’s a trade-off.”
SNP deputy leader Angus Robertson, candidate for Moray, said the policy was part of a callous set of cutbacks for families.
He argued: “The Tory manifesto is a cruel attack on families – with deep austerity cuts that will hit pensioners, families, and public services.
“Theresa May talked about ‘hard choices’ – and these will affect pensioners, disabled people, the vulnerable, and those on middle and low incomes.
“The SNP already protects free personal care, free childcare, free school meals, and will stand up against these callous Tory cuts.”
However, a Scottish Conservative spokesman responded devolution meant the Scottish Parliament was able to take different decisions.
He said: “Social care in Scotland is devolved, so these polices do not apply to Scotland.
“That’s what devolution was designed to do – it’s there to allow the Scottish Parliament to make different judgements – as we have done on prescription charges or grammar schools.”
The Tory manifesto will offer protection from the cost of social care for people with assets of £100,000 or less, a dramatic increase from the current £23,250 level in England.
In order to make the system sustainable, the value of someone’s property will now be included in the means test for care in their own home, meaning more people will be liable to contribute to the cost of being looked after.
And the winter fuel payment, worth between £100 and £300, will be means-tested.