Social care reforms delayed to October 2025

The social care funding reforms first set out in September 2021, which were due to come into effect in October 2023, were delayed to October 2025 in October 2022¹. Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the reforms would be dropped on 29 July 2024, in a bid to cover shortfalls in government revenue¹.

The reforms covered the funding of later life care in England only, as social care is devolved to each nation's government¹. A major feature was a cap on the overall amount any individual would spend on personal care in their lifetime at £86,000, covering support with eating or dressing as well as medical assistance, though living costs such as food, accommodation and energy bills would still have been payable¹. The upper capital limit, the maximum savings including the value of a home at which someone can receive council funding support, was to rise in England from £23,250 to £100,000, and the lower capital limit from £14,250 to £20,000¹. All of these plans have now been dropped, so there is no lifetime cap and the capital limits remain the same¹.

The capital limits that apply vary by nation¹:

Where someone has less than the upper limit but more than the lower limit, a tariff income of £1 a week applies for every £250 held in savings between the two limits¹. In Scotland, free personal care is available regardless of financial situation, though this does not include additional living costs such as food or accommodation¹. On property, someone receiving care at home does not have their house counted as an asset in the funding assessment, and if they move into a care home the home's value is not counted if a carer or another close relative such as a spouse or a child over the age of 60 still lives there; otherwise there are 12 weeks after beginning a long-term stay before the council considers the home's value¹. A deferred payment agreement allows the local authority to pay care costs, repaid with interest when the home is eventually sold¹.

Other support exists outside council funding. NHS Funded Nursing Care pays one of two flat rates, at £235.88 per week or £324.50 per week, covering the additional costs of nursing care but not the accommodation aspect of care fees¹. Attendance allowance, a benefit for those over state pension age with a physical or mental disability meaning they need someone to care for them, pays two rates depending on the level of need: £72.65 and £108.55 a week¹.

Why it matters for households

The lifetime cap of £86,000 on personal care spending will not now apply, and the capital limits used to decide who gets council funding support in England stay at £23,250 and £14,250¹. People whose savings and property sit above the upper limit continue to fund their own care, and those between the two limits continue to pay tariff income of £1 a week for every £250 of savings in that band¹. The reforms would have most benefited those with savings far beyond the threshold for council funding, who were unlikely to reach the threshold to qualify for support in their lifetime¹. The changes applied to England only, so the limits in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are unaffected¹.

What happens next

No further reform plans for social care funding in England have been reported¹.