Age UK response to Chancellor's announcement on the care cap

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK said:

"Sir Andrew Dilnot was asked to devise a scheme to protect older people who have to pay their own pay bills a generation ago and did so, but after successive governments have dilly dallied over whether to implement it or not, the new Government has finally said that it will definitely not be pressing ahead. In the meantime our system of social care has gone from merely creaking to a state of near collapse in some places, with the result that there is now a much wider set of serious problems that need to be addressed - including big workforce shortages, lack of availability of care and patchy quality. 

"Nonetheless, the fact that we now know Sir Andrew's scheme will not be going ahead is really bad news for all those older people who were hoping against hope for some relief from their sky high care bills - in the short term at least it seems they are on their own. The problem of high care bills is however very real and the Government must tackle it as part of a broader package of measures designed to stabilise and reform social care - and sooner rather than later."