Report suggests plans to set a cap on long-term care costs have been scrapped
Conservatives manifesto pledged to ditch cap and introduce £100,000 asset ceiling caused uproar - and led to a (very temporary) U-turn
Government said to be considering auto-enrolment for care alternative
Tom Selby, senior analyst at AJ Bell, comments:
"History will not reflect kindly on a Government that has promised so much and delivered so little on long-term care. More than six years after the original Dilnot cap was proposed it appears we are back to square one. It's quite incredible that the Conservative Party appear to be so blasé about abandoning key election promises, although it's perhaps a sign of the weakened position of Theresa May's minority administration.
"The idea of a pension style auto-enrolment system for long-term care is potentially an interesting one although the obvious risk is that, with so many demands on their money, people will simply opt-out. There would also likely need to be some sort of incentive structure to encourage people to put money aside.
"Ultimately policymakers are coming up with a myriad of solutions for a single problem - how to fund an ageing society. There is a danger that if long-term care is tackled in isolation we will end up with a smorgasbord of policies that don't work together.
"Never has it been clearer that some sort of independent commission is needed to knit these strands together and build a long-term savings strategy resilient enough to withstand political upheaval. That would, of course, require politicians to recognise their own inability to look beyond the next general election."