Liz Truss: No-one will be forced to sell their home to pay for social care

Sign up to our free money newsletter for investment analysis and expert advice to help you build wealth Sign up to our free money email for help building your wealth Sign up to our free money email for help building your wealth SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The Tory manifesto in 2019 said social care reforms must “guarantee that no-one needing care has to sell their home to pay for it”. “At Age UK we would be thrilled if our new Prime Minister is proposing to do this, but she has not given any indication to date that this is what she wants to do.” My biggest fear is that measures will again fall short because to avoid people having to sell their home, the Government would have to include all costs – including food and accommodation as opposed to just care costs – in their calculations of a new cap Mike Padgham, Independent Care Group Ms Abrahams said that, under the existing cap, the majority of people will need to sell their homes to fund their care. “The reality is most of older people don’t have access to anything like the kind of cash you have to spend to reach the cap – about eighty thousand pounds – without selling their home.” She also said the cap was not nearly enough on its own, with a crisis in the social care workforce, largely around pay, and councils needing more money to reduce growing waiting lists for care and assessments. “My biggest fear is that measures will again fall short because to avoid people having to sell their home, the Government would have to include all costs – including food and accommodation as opposed to just care costs – in their calculations of a new cap.” Sally Warren, director of policy at The King’s Fund, said: “If the Prime Minister is restating this commitment to a cap, this is welcome news, although she should also reverse the regressive change to the cap announced last year which meant people with low levels of wealth still face very high care costs and would potentially have to sell their home, while the wealthy would not.