§ In this Budget I shall be helping people who are earning and people who are saving. But I also want to help the people who have worked and saved all their lives. Some of them may be unfortunate enough to need care in residential or nursing homes in their old age. If they do, they may find their savings eaten away quickly to pay for that care. Of course, that is one of the rainy days for which people save. But the balance between the state paying and the family paying must be right. If it is not, many prudent people will complain that they are being treated unfairly compared with those who were unable or unwilling to save at all.
§ To help people who have already put money aside, it was recently decided to exempt from VAT some forms of care provided in someone's own home. I now have two important further proposals.
§ First, I intend to exempt from tax the benefits from a range of insurance policies that provide long-term care benefits. We should encourage, not penalise, people who decide to take more responsibility for themselves.
§ Secondly, at present only people with assets worth less than £3,000 are not asked to make any contribution from their capital towards the costs of residential or nursing home care. People with assets worth more than £8,000 receive no financial support from the Government. When applied to care in residential and nursing homes, those limits are far too low.
§ From April, and sooner if practicable, we shall more than treble the lower threshold, from £3,000 to £10,000, and double the upper threshold, from £8,000 to £16,000. That means that people in residential care who have worked hard and saved will now keep more of their own money. It will give many elderly people and their families more financial security and greater peace of mind. But we also want to find more ways of helping people who are now in work or recently retired and want to plan ahead to prepare for their old age.
§ We shall be consulting shortly on an innovative range of proposals to encourage people to make provision for long-term care. We are studying in particular the concept 1068 of so-called partnership schemes. The essence of those schemes will be that individuals who plan ahead to meet a proportion of long-term care costs themselves will be able to retain more of their assets above the £16,000 capital threshold.
§ State-funded care will, of course, still be there for all those who need it, but those who have provided for themselves will be able to keep more of their savings. The partnership approach combines state provision for the needy with reward for the thrifty who make provision for themselves.
§ In addition, I have asked the Inland Revenue to consult on the possibility of extending to members of occupational pension schemes the option to take a variable pension. That could provide a larger pension in later years, when people are more likely to need long-term care, in exchange for a smaller pension earlier on. For future generations, long-term care will be a growing problem for the finances of many families. The Government have put in a lot of work to put together a package to meet their concerns. We shall now go out and consult and explain our ideas in detail.
§ For all retired people living on their savings, the pensioners bonds that I introduced have proved a very popular National Savings product. The House will recall that I introduced them two years ago. I am today announcing that we are reducing the qualifying age for purchases of those bonds from 65 to 60.
§ Taken together, this package of measures covering the big problems of savings and long-term care for the elderly is the mark of a Government who care about our elderly, their families and their sense of security. It also shows yet again that we are a Government who look to the long term in all those difficult areas of social policy.