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Original poster

AIBU to think a 10% inheritance levy for social care is fairer?

258 replies

TourdeCrema · 06/08/2026 08:27

So Andy Burnham is looking at a 10% death tax across the board instead of the system we now have, where social care may wipe out your entire inheritance and you don’t get a penny.

paying for everyone’s social care through the death tax

so if you leave £350k house and your parent had 5 years of care, you sell the house and pay £35k to the government and keep the remaining £315k.
presently you’d walk away with £0 as the social care would take the house cost

i think this is a much more reasonable suggestion, than walking away without a penny if my parent needed care( both my parents are dead, so it won’t affect me now)

OP posts:
Original poster
TourdeCrema · 06/08/2026 08:45

You would have to be in care for an awfully long time to get through £350K.

its £1500 a week average for adult social care

so just under 5 years

OP posts:
Original poster
TourdeCrema · 06/08/2026 08:42

Burnham said in "an ideal world" he would not want anyone to have to sell their home to pay for care, describing it as a "really awful process".
He added proposals he previously put forward, when he was health secretary in 2009, were intended to stop that, saying: "If everybody on the NHS principle contributed a little, it would mean everybody could protect the majority of what they'd worked for."

OP posts:
summitfever · 06/08/2026 08:38

If someone works their whole life and invests
their money into a property then in their old age they need care (often) because their offspring are nowhere to be seen, why should the wealth they accumulated not be spent on their care? The older generation who enjoyed all sorts of financial perks throughout their generation will drain this one dry, so our children will never buy a home and can’t get a council one, can barely get a job, will be lucky if there’s a state pension and we want to make sure we still cash in at the end? Older people aren’t entitled to care if they can afford it-and their offspring are not entitled to inherit, what’s left to inherit comes after the fact. It’s perfectly fair.

Any1ForTennis · 06/08/2026 08:38

You would have to be in care for an awfully long time to get through £350K.

My MIL was in care home for nearly 5 years and the net cost to her factoring in State Pension, Private Pension plus interest on savings from selling her home was around £100k.

Personally I think the person requiring care should pay for it but the cost of provding care should be heavily regulated.

Also, if all care is free, who gets the the nice posh care home and who gets the one that smells of cabbage?

LavenderSweetPea · 06/08/2026 08:32

I don't think his 10% death tax will be instead of paying for care. I think he's thinking you pay for your care and whatever is left (if anything) he'll take 10%.

At the moment the majority don't pay inheritance tax because the estate is under the threshold to have to pay. I think the proposal is no estate would be too small for Burnham to want to take a cut, he'll be taking 10% of your garden shed if that's all you have left.

FinallyHere · 06/08/2026 08:32

It’s sounds brilliant to me. The trouble tends to be that people with really significant assets will continue to find it worthwhile to hide their assets from that tax and solve only the moderately wealthy to carry the cost ?

or can we assume that the royal family will be first in the queue to volunteer to pay?

Crumpetring · 06/08/2026 08:30

Would this be on top of the current inheritance tax (for those who meet the threshold).

WildWindySeascape · 06/08/2026 08:29

I also think this is a fair proposal. We will still see it avoided by the most wealthy who will put their property into trust to remove their ownership before death and to avoid the levy.

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