News

Wealthy pensioners could lose their winter fuel payments and free TV licences to help raise money for long-term elderly care, a government adviser said yesterday.

Lord Warner, who sat on last year’​s inquiry into the funding of social care, added that ministers should consider a new ‘​granny tax’​ that would involve scrapping older people’​s exemption from paying National Insurance.

The former Labour minister also suggested deducting money from people’​s estates after death to pay for the long-term care they received in old age.

Lord Warner, who was a member of the Dilnot Commission, has been asked by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley to come up with a fair funding system for long-term care.

At present, tens of thousands end up having to sell their homes to pay care-home fees –​ denying their children an inheritance.

The Dilnot Commission suggested a cap of £​35,000 on the amount that individuals can be charged for care –​ but the Treasury is understood to have baulked at the plan’​s £​1.7billion cost.

Whitehall admitted yesterday that a long-promised White Paper on social care could be months away.

Full story on This Is Money