Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to introduce a taper for the upper capital limit for savings used to determine eligibility for free social care.

The current adult social care system is means tested and provides funded support for those with the least financial means. Individuals can approach their local authority for a financial assessment to determine their eligibility for support.

Under the Care Act 2014, charging is based on a number of principles, including that people should not be charged more than it is reasonably practicable for them to pay. The means test thresholds for support with adult social care costs continue to be reviewed annually.

The Government remains committed to reforming adult social care and we have launched an independent commission into adult social care as part of our critical first steps towards delivering a National Care Service. The Terms of Reference are sufficiently broad to enable Baroness Casey to independently consider how to build a social care system fit for the future, including considering the affordability of care costs, if she sees fit.