15 Years of Frozen Thresholds Can Set Some Care Users Back £12,400, New Analysis Finds
A social care support threshold freeze since 2010/11 means that some people must spend an additional £12,400 of their own money before qualifying for state support, according to new analysis from The King’s Fund.
Unlike healthcare, social care is means tested and only people with assets and savings below £23,250 qualify for state-funded support when they need it. But this figure has been frozen since 2010/11 – if it had been uprated in line with inflation, it would have been over £35,600 in 2026/27, finds the analysis.
The King’s Fund is calling for this ‘stealth tax’ to be addressed as part of the major reform of the social care system in England promised by the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, who has brought forward Baroness Casey’s independent review by a year, to report in 2027. The King’s Fund says it demonstrates the need for reform to tackle the problems faced by around 220,000 ‘self-funders’ in England who must pay all their own social care costs, which can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.
As well as the ‘stealth tax’ The King’s Fund’s analysis found that ‘self-funders’ have been subject to further injustices created by the system. People who pay for their own care face much higher fees than those funded by the local authority. Social care providers often raise charges for self funders to make up for lower rates paid for care by councils. The Competition and Markets Authority in 2017 found a 41% difference between self-funder rates and local authority rates and there is nothing to suggest that this gap has been addressed. This means self funders not only keep less of their savings but also see them disappear more quickly because they are charged significantly more than people receiving state support.
An immediate option to improve the social care system available to the Prime Minister would be to revise this threshold and bring it in line with inflation, The King’s Fund said. In fact, it has urged Andy Burnham to go much further and press ahead with a fundamental overhaul of the social care system, one that addressed the fundamental issues of access, catastrophic cost, quality, workforce variation, market failures and integration.
Simon Bottery, Senior Fellow for Social Care at The King’s Fund, said: ‘The 15-year freeze to the thresholds is just one symptom of an unfair social care system resulting from reform being put off for decades. Governments have talked about change and even legislated for it but have not had the courage to implement it.
‘We welcome the new Prime Minister’s aim to buck this decades long trend. His words and actions have shown a renewed drive from the centre to force reform through, something that had been sorely lacking, and has put this issue near the top of the political agenda.
‘Wholesale reform is now needed. Currently, the system leads to a loss of dignity and independence for those in need of care. It also creates stress and anxiety for loved ones supporting people in need and worries about catastrophic care costs, whilst piling pressure on an already creaking NHS.’
