Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the number of years a person would need to spend in a residential care home before benefitting from an (a) £72,000 cap and (b) £100,000 cap on the cost of care; if he will make it his policy to introduce free personal care in England; and if he will make a statement.

The social care Green Paper will bring forward ideas for including an element of risk pooling in the system, which will help to protect people from the highest costs. To allow for fuller engagement and development of the approach, with reforms to the care system and the way it is paid for considered in the round, we will not be taking forward the previous Government’s plans to implement a cap on care costs in 2020. Further details on the Government’s plans will be set out after we have consulted on the different options.