Former Tory cabinet minister Peter Lilley has put forward plans to introduce a state-backed insurance company to enable homeowners to protect against having to sell their homes to pay for social care.
Lilley’s Solving the Social Care Dilemma? A Responsible Solution paper for the Civitas think tank calls for people to pay a one-off insurance premium of around £16,000 to a not-for-profit state guarantor.
Lilley (pictured) said the company would offer everyone approaching state pension age the opportunity to take out the insurance to pay for social care if and when they meet the official conditions for such care.
People who choose not to take out such insurance but require care later would be covered by the state, with the fee taken from the sale of a property after their death.
“They could not complain if, having rejected the opportunity to pay into the pool to pay for care for those who insure, they eventually find themselves paying for their own care from their own assets,” said Lilley.
“Those who do pay the premium would be confident that they could leave their homes and other assets to their heirs – who would be able to look forward to such bequests with greater confidence,” he added.
Lilley said the proposals present an alternative to other plans which would “mean the taxpayer shouldering a larger share of the cost of social care to the benefit of those who are better off, while putting an increased burden on council care budgets – which are already stretched to breaking point”.
“The premium should reflect the value of the home/assets protected – so, those protecting a modest home would pay less than those with very valuable home,” he added.
