Here we go! Getting rid of one of the three locks, and at least starting to sort out social care. It seems quite politically smart to me to trade these two things; if done correctly, they can say “ok, pensioners may get a little less, but they also won’t have to sell their house if they need care”.
I look forward to seeing what the opposition manage to brand this. We’ve seen death tax and dementia tax, maybe this one will be the revival of the granny tax?
Although there will be lots of opposition, I’m happy that there there seems to be some willingness for big action, albeit all for the next parliament.
Wait, wasn’t it… checks notes… Labour that branded it a death tax / dementia tax when Theresa May suggested pensioners might have to pay for their social care?
May’s version was shit though, under what she proposed old people would get to keep everything unless they needed care early (dementia) in which case their entire estate would be drained to pay for it. It was needlessly cruel (like a lot of things she did) to heap financial punishment on top of getting a life changing condition.
Indeed :) the conservatives called it a death tax when labour tried to do it, then labour called it a dementia tax when the conservatives tried to do it
The hypocrites at reform ltd will say (saw/heard this somewhere else) something like, granny will starve so illegal grooming gangs can get free hotels and can rape your daughters.
I’ve seen the usual comments across the internet from Tories saying things like “I’ve paid into the system all my life, therefore I deserve a generous pension”.
But we don’t normally apply that argument, do we? Nobody says “I know my leg isn’t broken, but I’ve paid into the NHS all my life, so I deserve a plaster cast, even though I don’t need one”.
Maybe we should just means-test the state pension. Pensioners who are genuinely poor should absolutely be helped by the state. Pensioners who are wealthy probably shouldn’t be helped by the state.
Good move from Burnham, social care is only going to increase in demand as the population ages so it needs funding from somewhere and the triple lock was genuinely unsustainable.
