If they say they won’t impose their ‘Dementia Tax’, the Tories will be lying

Last Updated: May 20, 2017By

I saw this on my Twitter feed today:

Aaron may be right about this – the Tories might take heed of the backlash against their Dementia Tax, and they may say they’ll ditch the plan.

They will – of course – be lying.

All the Tories need to do is convince enough of you to vote for them so they’ll have a majority in Parliament. Then they can do anything they damn well please

The plan, for clarity, is to force people to sell their houses in order to pay for social care. The claim is that they won’t have to sell their houses during their lifetimes, but this is only provided they purchase an insurance product to cover the care. The premiums – payments to the insurance company – would be recovered from the equity after the house has been sold, and the insurance company will be able to force a sale, meaning any inheritors will not be able to keep it on the market in order to get the best price. The premiums could be up to (and including) the entire remaining equity in the property after the government has taken its cut.

This means that, if either or both of your parents need social care, then they will have to give your family home to an insurance company and you will receive nothing at all as an inheritance.

The Tories might take heed of the backlash against their Dementia Tax, and they may say they’ll ditch the plan.

They will – of course – be lying.

The policy was revealed at the launch of the Conservative Manifesto last week, and prompted an instant backlash against Theresa May and the Tory Party. People are lining up to appear on radio phone-ins or TV shows to say they were going to vote Conservative but will now vote Labour.

Here’s a passage from a Facebook article by Rachel Godfrey, to give you some of the facts: “Most people don’t really understand the reality of ‘care’. For all of us to live independently, with a care package in place, with care at the standard I give (and what I consider ‘normal’) is unobtainable for most. Your lifetime of savings will be gone. Everything you have worked for will be gone with nothing to pass onto your family. A lifetime of paying taxes and then, at the last hurdle, you pay for your care costs too with your savings then your home.

“Before June 8th, all of you who are shrugging off the Conservatives ‘dementia’ tax because it won’t affect you, need to realise you are wrong. Very wrong. Say goodbye to the family house, the one your parents worked so very hard for and were so proud of when they finally owned it outright. It’s going on now and it is only going to get so much worse.

“You have been warned.”

It’s possible – it just might be! – that Theresa May might wake from her delusional stupor of the last few weeks, long enough to realise that she has made a big mistake, and she might backtrack on it.

It doesn’t take much to say, “We’ve listened; we won’t do it”, after all.

But here’s the thing:

It will be a lie.

Here’s why:

All the Tories need to do is convince enough of you to vote for them so they’ll have a majority in Parliament. Then they can do anything they damn well please – whether it’s in their manifesto or not; whether they said they wouldn’t do it or not.

Remember:

They have already said “products will be available” so they have already promised the value of millions of houses – along with the houses themselves, let’s not forget – to their friends in the insurance industry.

So it doesn’t matter what Theresa May tells you.

She needs to push this policy into law.

If she succeeds, then 70 per cent of us will be affected.

The only certain way to stop it from happening is to vote Labour on June 8.

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10 Comments

  1. Rupert Mitchell (@rupert_rrl) May 20, 2017 at 9:01 pm - Reply

    The only promises I would trust from a Tory government are ones where they gain even more by depriving the ordinary decent folk, who really make the money, and those who so desperately are in need of support and assistance from them.

  2. Dez May 20, 2017 at 11:13 pm - Reply

    It’s a big ticket item…..however so near to issuing their (her) arrogant manifesto to reposition this particular controversial item so near to election would be suicide. No one would ever believe this woman with a thick skin and a terrible track record.. Her credibility for strong and stable Brexit will be totally shot looking more like weak ‘n wobbly…..just as she was at the Home Office with immigration challenge..

  3. NMac May 21, 2017 at 8:51 am - Reply

    Weak, wobbly and very, very nasty.

  4. Rusty May 21, 2017 at 9:07 am - Reply

    It’s all about the back room deals! Someone who’s a tory supporter will gain from this!

  5. Rose May 21, 2017 at 2:34 pm - Reply

    At the moment if you have to go into residential care you have to sell your home to pay for it and are only allowed to keep £26,000, I believe it is, of the proceeds. The Tories introduced this policy and Labour said it would abolish it if/when it came to power but didn’t. Will Labour under Corbyn act to address this issue and stop people having to sell their homes to pay for residential care, Mike? What is Labour’s position on this, do you know? To me this seems as bad, if not worse, than what May is proposing now as far as social care goes.

    • Mike Sivier June 2, 2017 at 1:21 pm - Reply

      Labour will create a National Care Service, which will be built alongside the NHS, with a shared requirement for single commissioning, partnership arrangements, pooled budgets and joint working arrangements – in its first years, the service will require an additional £3 billion of public funds every year, enough to place a maximum limit on lifetime personal contributions to care costs, raise the asset threshold below which people are entitled to state support, and provide free end of life care.
      So: YES – Labour will address this issue.
      NO – it is far better than what the Tories are proposing now.

  6. Jim Jones May 21, 2017 at 3:19 pm - Reply

    Re the no need to sell home only if one buys the insurance:
    Is there a link/reference other than blog posts or comments. Something that is verifiably from the Tories?
    The manifest doesn’t mention this point – at least if it does, I can’t find it.

    • disabledgrandad May 22, 2017 at 4:14 pm - Reply

      Jim it’s just a extension on the current rules and BTW if your got dementia the Royal court of protection decides what money you have including your home and they can sell your home etc already. the so called insurance is a annuity scheme but here is the kicker mo cap on how much you can be charged!

      So if you have a 200,000 house care costs can run 40,000-50,000 a year so i hope you can see how long that money will last. Plus the average life expectancy is around 5 years so under here scheme that will be a bill of 250,000 no house and i wonder if they try and pass the debt onto the named family member hummm…

      one last point guess who’s husband is big in the annuity market pure coincidence I bet!

      • Mike Sivier May 22, 2017 at 6:15 pm - Reply

        With a £200,000 home, at £50,000 a year, the money would last two years. Premiums on the insurance they charge you may take the £100,000 you’d be left with, though.

  7. The Toffee May 22, 2017 at 3:56 pm - Reply

    I’ve been wondering….

    What will (would) the effects of this crass policy be on the housing market?

    I can see plenty of people ‘downsizing’ if they get in with this as a major policy, yet the demand for sub-£100k housing would no doubt increase…Along with the price of those homes.

    That’d price more people out of the housing market altogether…

    But no doubt the daily excess’d label it a triumph somehow…

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