The prime minister claimed that the inclusion of a cap, which comes after even supportive newspapers dubbed the plans a “dementia tax” triggering days of backlash, was simply a clarification.
“Since my manifesto was published, the proposals have been subject to fake claims made by Jeremy Corbyn. The only things he has left to offer in this campaign are fake claims, fear and scaremongering,” she said, during a speech in Wrexham to launch the Welsh Tory manifesto.
“So I want to make a further point clear. This manifesto says that we will come forward with a consultation paper, a government green paper. And that consultation will include an absolute limit on the amount people have to pay for their care costs.”
However, the prime minister refused to be drawn on the level of the new cap.
Despite May’s insistence that there had been no shift in position, she immediately faced a string of difficult questions from journalists who said the announcement amounted to a “manifesto of chaos”.
“Let’s be clear we have not changed the principles we set out in our manifesto. What we have done is clarified that in the green paper which will be a consultation document we will have an upper limit. But the basic principles remain the same,” the prime minister responded.
“Nothing has changed, nothing has changed,” she added tersely, raising her voice towards the end of the session when a correspondent from the Telegraph asked if anything else was likely to be altered in the Tory manifesto.
The prime minister then accused a Guardian journalist of borrowing a term from the Labour party after it was suggested that the “dementia tax” would still mean a wide disparity between the children of Azheimer’s and cancer sufferers.
“This is a system that will ensure that people who are faced by the prospect of either requiring care in their own home or go into home are able to see that support provided for them and don’t have to worry on that month by month basis about where that funding is coming from. They won’t have to sell their family home when they are alive, and they will be able to pass savings on to their children,” she said.
The announcement triggered claims of “chaos, confusion and indecision” from Labour while the LibDems said it represented a “manifesto meltdown”.
The Tory manifesto included plans to include a person’s property in the means test used to assess payments for social care within the home. It set a floor of £100,000 and promised that a family home would never need to be sold in a person’s lifetime.
However, the policy caused anger because it meant that offspring would be forced to cover the cost, with many needing to sell their parents’ home to do so.
The phrase “dementia tax” was used by Labour but also by newspapers supportive of May to highlight the idea that someone suffering from Alzheimer’s, which means heavy reliance on social care, would be less able to pass on their home to their children than someone with an NHS-treated condition such as cancer.
Despite May’s claim that the “basic principles” of the policy were the same, there was no mention of a cap in the Conservative manifesto. In fact, a briefing note for journalists made clear that the party believed its policy was “fairer and more equitable than the current system and the cap (of around £35,000) recommended by the Dilnot report”.
The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, was asked on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme if the policy was a rejection of both Dilnot’s cap and the £72,000 limit that was in the process of being put in place by the Conservatives under David Cameron.
“Yes, and not only are we dropping it but we are dropping it ahead of a general election and we’re being completely explicit in our manifesto that we’re dropping it,” said Hunt.
Labour’s Barbara Keeley, the shadow social care minister, told the Guardian: “What people need is certainty, so they can know how their future care needs will be met. What the Tories are delivering is chaos, confusion and indecision over the funding of care. The Tories were going to introduce a cap on care costs in April 2016, then in April 2020 and now they are talking of a green paper, which is another delaying tactic.”
