How Tories have topped poll tax

“For once I agree with Eric Goodyer's sentiments. Only the rich and the poor will benefit. Those of us that have spent our working lives trying to save a nest egg for our old age will lose the lot if we are unfortunate enough to need long term care. The only real beneficiaries are the "fat cat" care home owners.

And it will not only be our children that will lose out on their inheritance, it will also be the spouses who will have to try and manage to pay the day to day bills when the care homes have bled them dry and the money runs out.”

“Same old tired format out of touch with the climate from Eric. However unemployment is down, growth figures have improved and 25 % has been knocked of the deficit and there is a moderate but slow recovery in place. At least under The Coalition, there is some kind of vision, action and the strength to make decisions, unpopular with the public. Unlike Labour's plan to oppose all cuts without a strategy to assert an alternative.”

“"if your assets are less than £75,000 you lose the lot"

It's all very complicated, but I'm not sure Eric's statement is accurate, nothing new there I know. I have copied across the table below from the BBC site. It gives a good guidance as to what will need to be paid if the proposed chnegs are implimented.

And just exactly what did Labour do to protect working people who had worked hard all their lives, when faced with having to sell their houses or use their life savings to fund care costs?


Proposed changes to elderly care in England: What you could pay
People affected Care costs

*

Initial assets* up to £123,000

Means tested - proportion covered by state

eg. Property/assets worth £17,500 or less Pay £0 towards care (0% of assets)

eg. Property/assets worth £50,000 Pay £16,577 towards care (33% of assets)

eg. Property assets worth £100,000 Pay £44,611 towards care (45% of assets)

Initial assets above £123,000

To pay - up to max £75,000

eg. Property/assets worth £150,000 Pay £67,399 towards care (45% of assets)

eg. Property/assets worth £200,000 Pay £75,000 towards care (38% of assets)

eg. Property/assets worth £250,000 Pay £75,000 towards care (30% of assets)”

“It was a government of Eric's political persuasion that for thirteen years 'sowed the seeds' of our present economic situation. Since the last election, it has become all too apparent that none of our politicians ( neither government or opposition) have any idea of the solutions to our accelerating demise. What they do all have in common though, is the fact that the rich continue to get richer, and the poor poorer under this government, as they did under the previous government. On that at least, politicians of all colours appear to be united in their policies!”

“Let's just remind us what the last "smash and grab" Labour Government did for those in care..

Regulation 25 of the National Assistance (Assessment of Resources) Regulations 1992 allows Local Authorities to treat a care home resident as having capital they do not actually possess due to intentional deprivation of capital assets.

This means that a care home resident who intentionally deprives him/herself of a capital asset with the purpose of reducing charges may be treated as being still in possession of the asset. This is known as notional capital. The result is that the resident will be assessed as having capital they do not actually possess and will be charged accordingly

So if your parents transfer their assets to you (and there is no time limit) and even if they are fully compliant with inheritance laws... they can still come and get it.”

“Same old Eric Goodyder, and the Labour party for that matter. His party did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about care costs and still are so vacuous that all they can do is criticise and put forward no ideas of their own.

Tell me Eric, what is so bad about people who have worked damned hard all their lives passing some of their hard earned cash onto their children?”

“if your assets are less than £75,000 you lose the lot .. Whereas if have spent a lifetime of benefits scrounging you will get it all for free, as always!”