Speeches

Ian C. Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of pension freedoms policy on the cost to local authorities of residential care.

Alistair Burt

The pension freedom reforms are a fundamental change to how people can access their pension savings. The Government believes it is important to monitor these changes to understand their effects on the market and consumers. The impact of people’s pension choice can affect the extent to which they have to contribute to their social care costs.

The Department of Health, working with other Government Departments, assessed the potential effect of the policy on the cost to local authorities of residential care to be small compared to overall expenditure on residential care.