Boris faces mounting pressure to tackle soaring care fees ahead of crunch talks

Boris Johnson last night faced mounting pressure to 'grasp the nettle' and fix social care after it emerged care home fees have soared by almost a third since the Tories came to power.

The Prime Minister is to hold crunch talks with the Chancellor and the Health Secretary tomorrow to draw up plans for reforms he first promised when he entered Downing Street two years ago.

The urgency of the situation was underlined last night as shock new figures showed that thousands of desperate families are being lumbered with crippling average bills of £35,000 a year.

The average fee for a residential home in 2019/20 stood at £672 a week – a rise of 3 per cent on the year before and 29 per cent higher than in 2011/12.

The huge costs leave dementia sufferers with far less to hand on to their children and often require the sale of the family home.

Last night former health secretary Jeremy Hunt urged Mr Johnson to put aside Treasury concerns and find the billions needed to fund a cap on care costs. 

Writing in the Mail, he said: 'Rather than put our heads in the sand and hope the problem goes away, it is time to grasp the nettle. Come on Boris!'

The crucial meeting between the PM, Rishi Sunak and Matt Hancock, scheduled for tomorrow, was revealed by the Daily Mail last week.

Mr Johnson is said to be in favour of a lifetime cap on the cost of care of £50,000, as proposed by economist Sir Andrew Dilnot a decade ago. The average length of stay in residential care is two years, meaning a cap set at this level would help thousands of people.

The Mail has been waging a long-running campaign to end the care crisis. And the Health Secretary is also eager for a solution to be agreed at tomorrow's meeting, believing the situation has been left to fester for too long.

But the Chancellor is concerned about the cost of up to £10billion a year. He has also said Tory governments should not do anything which could force an increase in personal taxation.

But figures compiled by business analysts LaingBuisson and published by Which? show that in the decade since Sir Andrew brought forward his idea for a cap, care costs have soared.

Fees for nursing homes – for people who need round-the-clock medical care – are now £937 a week or £48,724 a year. This is an increase of 5 per cent in just one year and 33 per cent in eight years.

The figures, which cover the amount paid both by local councils and those who fund their own care, mask the fact that self-funders pay even more than this.

LaingBuisson said self-funders are typically charged 30 per cent more than councils – meaning the average annual cost of a residential care home place will actually be much more than £35,000. And the figures hide a desperate postcode lottery, with families in London and the South East having to pay significantly more. 

Gavin Terry, of Alzheimer's Society, said: 'The pandemic laid bare the dire state of social care and the Government must now act. We must ensure families being bankrupted by care fees and woefully inadequate care provision are a thing of the past.'

Caroline Abrahams, of Age UK, added: 'Despite the efforts of the good people who work in social care, it's impossible to escape the conclusion that social care in England has become a miserable embarrassment.'

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: 'Ensuring we have a care system that is fit for the future remains a top priority and we will bring forward proposals for social care reform later this year.' 

JEREMY HUNT:

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