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Rex
UK News

Christian charity questions Tory plan to force over-50s to pay £300 a year for social care

by Eno Adeogun

The idea is being proposed by Conservative MP Damian Green (pictured below) as part of a range of measures to fill a funding gap for older people.

Louise Morse from Pilgrims Friends Society told Premier that while some people may struggle to make the payments, she supported it.

 

"I think that, that would work ok because we know as Christians that we're giving to the general good," she said during Premier's News Hour.

"For some people who are barely getting through, that would mean the difference between paying the rent or not.

"But for people who are managing, it would be ok.

"But I think it should be for everybody because everybody is going to become old unless they die young."

Wikipedia

The former Cabinet minister has argued that the care system should adopt the model of the state pension, with everyone entitled to a basic "safety net" of support, but individuals are encouraged to top up this provision from their own savings or housing wealth.

Morse argued in the charity's blog that pensioners are already contributing billions of pounds to the Exchequer.

Green, who was in charge of drawing up the Government's long-awaited green paper on social care for England while he was in government, also set out a range of measures aimed at filling a £2.75 billion funding gap.

In his Fixing the Care Crisis paper, drawn up for the Centre for Policy Studies, Mr Green suggested that the one per cent National Insurance hike is a "last resort".

However, proposals including winter fuel allowance tax and surcharges have been labelled "a tax on getting old" by the opposition.

Listen to Premier's Cara Bentley speaking with Louise Morse:

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