Social care cap now scheduled for 2016 and set at £72,000

Chancellor George Osborne has over the weekend confirmed that the Dilnot Commission’s cap of individual social care costs is to be brought forwards, while the threshold itself is also to be reduced.

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, ahead of this week’s Budget, Mr Osborne confirmed that the cap, previously set at £75,000, would come down by £3,000.

The Chancellor said: “We will bring the Dilnot cap forward to 2016 and indeed reduce the cap to £72,000; in other words you have to pay £72,000 of care costs but after that, for the rest of your life, those care costs will be covered by the state.”

The announcement was accompanied by a commitment to bringing forwards the flat tier pension, also to start in 2016 rather than 2017.

A cap on social care costs has been hailed as a historic reform, which successive governments have failed to see through, but many criticised the Government for setting the cap too high.

Tish Hanifan, of the Society of Later life Advisors (SOLLA), claimed last month that, “The level at which the cap is set will inevitably mean that many people will find that they do not benefit at all or not to the extent they expected.”