The changes come from Andrew Dilnot’s report last year, which recommended several changes to make social care funding more supportive.

The key points of the Dilnot report that the government is now considering are that the assets limit should rise to £100,000 and that there should be a £35,000 cap placed on the amount someone spends towards their own care costs during their lifetime.

Currently, care services such as council funded home help and care home placements are only offered to people with under £23,250 of assets, so the changes could potentially lead to massive costs.

The opposition has accused the plans as being hollow until a workable timetable has been introduced. Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said, “A cap is meaningless if there is no plan to deliver it. How is it going to be paid for? What is the timetable to put it in place?”

Speaking to the BBC, Lansley did not commit to a timetable. He said, “You can't be confident about the implementation of a cap on the costs that people have to pay, unless you are also clear about how you meet the costs”.

The Care and Support Alliance has argued that the only way a workable plan can be moved forward is to make sure that the plans do not become a political battleground. Simon Gillespie, chairman, said, “long-term funding solution, and one of the mechanisms to achieve that was to try to get all three of the main parties together because this is a long-term issue affecting many millions of people across England”.

sumber: http://www.egovmonitor.com/