Conservatives Social Care Plans Out of Touch

Commenting on Tory proposals to provide free social care for everyone through a one off payment of £8,000, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesman Cllr David Kendall said.

"The Conservatives sudden pre-election enthusiasm for tackling this problem is welcome but these proposals seem to be based on little more than a wing and a prayer. There is no credible evidence that the vast majority of people would actually sign up to such a scheme and the Tories have completely failed to explain how they would cover the enormous shortfalls in funding that are bound to happen.

"If David Cameron really believes that most pensioners have a spare £8,000 lying around then he is more out of touch than we thought. Today's announcement will do little to end the situation where many struggling pensioners are forced to sell their assets to pay for their care. I know from my own experience of dealing with my late father's Alzheimer's just how expensive it is for private nursing home care in places like Brentwood and the worry and uncertainty this causes to many families.

"Every older person should get help to pay for their care based on their need rather than their income. This issue is far to important to be left to the usual political dog fight and the time has come for a cross-party commission to find a solution once and for all".