Brown pledge on care costs

EdInvestor

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/may/12/longtermcare.socialcare

In a speech today Brown will say: "We know too many people fear the prospect of selling their homes and using assets which otherwise they would pass on to family members and friends [to pay for care in old age] ... We can, and must, look to give people the opportunity and the support to save for their old age in a way which insures them and protects their houses and their inheritance."

greco_2

Empty words. There's going to be a £6bn funding gap and his proposals can only make things worse. Of course, he could always raise taxes to meet the cost. Bet he hasn't thought of that.

Dithering_Dad

The old Labour tactic of "Soundbite over Substance". They hope that people remember the words but not the fact that they never put them into practice. Cynical and self defeating - does anyone believe this government on anything anymore?

benood

The devil is in the detail:

"We can, and must, look to give people the opportunity and the support to save for their old age in a way which insures them and protects their houses and their inheritance."

By the sound of things he's planning to bring in some sort of compulsory insurance for care fees - ie further taxation. But as usual is trying to dress it up to sound more palatable. 5% on NI anyone?

dunstonh

which otherwise they would pass on to family members and friends

To be honest, if there are no relatives then why should the taxpayers have to pay for someone who wants to give their money to friends? Its a difficult subject when talking about inheritance to family but friends is much harder to justify taxpayers covering it.

Dithering_Dad

dunstonh wrote: »

To be honest, if there are no relatives then why should the taxpayers have to pay for someone who wants to give their money to friends?

I'd actually extend this to families as well. Do we deserve an inheritance from our parents if we place them into the care of strangers? Why should their money not be used to pay for that care, if we are not prepared to do it?

shoppaholic_returns

Dithering dad, you really are not at liberty to comment on the plight of others who ,depending on the care required for relatives,may be unable to cope and seek respite/permanent care for their loved ones. They DO care, you clearly havent much of a problem to comment!!!

dunstonh

I think DD has a point and as this a discussion forum, he has every right to raise it.

There are some out there that seem so focused on their inheritance that they dont give the impression of any thought to what is best for their parents. We have seen threads on here that give that impression. They often become quite emotive as the taxpayers feel aggrieved that they have to pay towards some uncaring git who is more interested in not losing their inheritance than their parents care.

Dithering_Dad

shoppaholic_returns wrote: »

Dithering dad, you really are not at liberty to comment on the plight of others who ,depending on the care required for relatives,may be unable to cope and seek respite/permanent care for their loved ones. They DO care, you clearly havent much of a problem to comment!!!

Actually, on a public forum I am at liberty to comment and to air my opinion on any subject I see fit as long as my comments are not racist, abusive, offensive, illegal or spam. Clearly my comments were not any of these.

If you take the time to read my comments instead of dashing off a self-righteous note, you'll see that I was merely asking a question in order to open a debate (that's what the symbol "?" means at the end of the sentence). you would also see, if you chose to look, that I mentioned nothing about "not caring" nor did I rebuke anyone for placing their parents into a home - sometimes we have no option, especially if they require medical care. What I did was to raise the suggestion that if our parents go into care then perhaps it's right that their assets be used to fund their care rather than to fund the lifestyle of their middle aged children.

As far as your comments are concerned, you cannot possibly comment on my personal circumstances (perhaps I'm already caring for elderly parents - do you know this?) or vouch for every other person in the UK with your sweeping "they CARE" statement. Most do, some won't.

bigbloke45

Brown Pledge. There's a man at my chipshop who swears he's Elvis and he's a liar too!

cajef

bigbloke45 wrote: »

Brown Pledge.

If anyone believes that presumably they must be gullible idiots, people keep telling us that we have been compensated for the 10% tax fiasco I have not seen any signs or details of any compensation yet. :rolleyes: