Waiting for Hunt’s social care cap is like waiting for Godot

Hunt has postponed the plan for social care for at least two years and there are fears it will never be implemented, writes Andrew Grice

In their 2019 manifesto, the Tories promised ‘nobody needing care should be forced to sell their home to pay for it’ (PA)

After his spell as the UK’s longest-serving health secretary, Jeremy Hunt admitted he had “failed” by not bringing in a 10-year plan for social care. When Boris Johnson finally announced an £86,000 cap on people’s lifetime care bills last December, Hunt argued it did not go far enough.

Yet now as chancellor, Hunt has postponed the move for at least two years and there are fears it will never be implemented. He hid behind council leaders who said they were not ready to implement the cap next October – the same excuse the 2010-15 coalition used after legislating for the ceiling.

Waiting for the cap is like waiting for Godot, even though in their 2019 manifesto, the Tories promised that “nobody needing care should be forced to sell their home to pay for it”. The cap was supposed to be only the first step in a wholesale reform of the ailing social care sector. As ever, it is the NHS’s very poor relation.