‘Cut winter fuel allowances’ warns former care minister

Paul Burstow, a Lib Dem MP and former care minister, said that the winter fuel allowance should be targeted for all but the poorest of pensioners.

He proposed the move as a way of meeting the cost of implementing the findings of the Dilnot Commission, which proposed capping the amount people have to pay for care over a lifetime.

He suggested setting the cap at £60,000, which is higher than the £35,000 proposed by the Dilnot Commission. He said that would save the taxpayer up to £1.5bn a year.

At the moment, elderly people in England must contribute to their own care costs if they have savings of more than £23,000.

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The suggestions were made in a report by the Centre Forum think-tank. The report said: “The government needs to be clear in its message that a reformed capped funding system is the most appropriate way of dealing with a broken social care system, a crisis that has lasted over 10 years.”

“The Treasury needs to grasp the ‘best opportunity in a decade’ provided by the Dilnot Commission, the goodwill expressed by the financial services industry and by care providers.

“Most importantly it should pay heed to the views of thousands of people who risk losing their entire life’s work through having to pay for unexpected and unlimited care costs.

“The Treasury must understand that the care funding crisis is one which will only worsen.”