‘Make adults save to fund social care when they retire,’ says minister
WORKING adults should be automatically enrolled in a saving scheme for old age care to help fund a massive shortfall, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has proposed
ALL adults will be expected to pay into a savings scheme to fund their care in old age, under plans being considered by ministers.
The progressive system is being looked as part of the Government's forthcoming Green Paper on social care - due to be published this autumn.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he wanted to see people take more "personal responsibility" for their care.
But he said the scheme would offer more security with people not being forced to sell their homes or use up all their savings.
The Cabinet minister said the options under consideration include an insurance system to cover all care costs or one that caps costs.
For the average individual care costs are £25,000, but one in 10 people can face mammoth bills of more than £100,000.
He said: "I'm attracted to the model of auto-enrolment, which has been so successful in pensions.
"If you make it the norm, tell people what it is they have to do to look after themselves, it's often the case that very few people will opt out.
"It takes away the injustice of people losing all that they have saved for." Former Pensions Minister Ros Altmann welcomed the plan saying a national fund for social care would be a "major step forward in addressing the stark, unsustainable unfairnesses of our current system".
But she warned: "Finding funding for social care is most urgent for those already in later life. They will not have an employer to help them, so the model of pensions auto-enrolment is less relevant and other reforms will be required."
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Asked about he proposal, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said yesterday: "There are a range of options being considered and these will be set out in a Green Paper this autumn".
Councils estimate a funding gap in adult social care services of around £3.5billion by 2025 just to keep up with existing standards of care.
Theresa May's "dementia tax" plan was partly blamed for the Tories' disastrous election result in 2017.
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