London's elderly to be hit especially hard by 'wealth test' for care

Political reporter(wp/es):

London’s elderly will be particularly hard hit by today’s Conservative party proposals that the value of their home is included in the “wealth test” used to determine whether they qualify for free care at home.

The manifesto reveals that anyone with more than £100,000 of assets will be made to pay for their care needs until that is all they have left in the world to pass on to their children.

For many thousands of the post-war generation, the first in history for whom owning the roof over their heads was a realistic aspiration, this will mean the equity they build up over their lifetimes being stripped away in their declining years.

Around three quarters of the over 65s in London are owner occupiers — around 400,000 in total — a far higher proportion than any other age group. Through no fault of their own the value of the bricks and mortar around them has soared, in some cases ten- or twentyfold, during the time they have owned it. Even the smallest one-bedroom flat in the suburbs of London now costs more than £100,000 and for many pensioners closer to the centre, houses bought for just a few thousand pounds in the Fifties or Sixties can now be worth millions.

Many will prefer to receive the care they need in the homes they paid for by their hard work over a lifetime of employment. With ever more people living deep into old age those care requirements for debilitating illnesses such as dementia can last for decades, involving bills running to hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Admittedly none will be forced to sell their homes, but they will have to take out interest-bearing loans to be repaid out of the proceeds of a sale after death,

But that will be limited comfort for London pensioners who followed the dream of ownership when they were young and hoped to pass on their homes to their children. 

Instead many will receive an inheritance hollowed out by years of care bills that will barely cover the cost of a garage in much of 21st-century London’s inflated property market.