- New analysis shows homeowners in Hampshire could face care costs of up to one third of their assets, including the value of their home.
- In comparison, homeowners in Surrey face costs of around just 15% of their assets.
- This means homeowners in Hampshire, with significant care needs, are more likely to have to sell their homes and will lose more of the value of it.
New analysis of assets held by homeowners in different regions of the UK show that those in Hampshire face losing a higher proportion of their assets if they have high care needs and hit the £86k care cap.
The analysis shows that homeowners in Esher & Walton (Surrey) face costs averaging at 14% of their assets if they have high care needs and hit the cap.
Meanwhile, other constituencies in the South East, like Portsmouth South, face losing 38% of their assets.
This comes despite a guarantee in the Conservatives’ 2019 manifesto “that no one needing care has to sell their home to pay for it”.
It follows analysis by the Resolution Foundation, who found that “the cap, which does not benefit households with less than £100,000 in capital, will be of relatively more help in the more affluent areas…it will offer most protection to those living in high wealth parts of England. This is not just because of the obvious reason that a cap set in cash terms offers far more protection to those with higher-value assets to lose.”
Stephen Morgan, MP for Portsmouth South, said:
“It’s shocking that people in Portsmouth may end up having to pay for care costs in excess of a third of their total assets, including their own home.
“Those in leafy Surrey, by comparison, would have to just fork out 14 per cent of their estate. That’s half of what my constituents would have to cough up.
“The Tories have broken yet another of their promises to the British people – their manifesto isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.
It’s time to properly fix our social care system.”
Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, said:
“Social care is in desperate need, but the Prime Minister – along with every Conservative MP – was elected on a manifesto that promised to fix the system on a plan that had been developed and would mean no one would have to sell their home.
“On both, he broke his promise.”
