I work in a local authority which is facing an unprecedented budget deficit, like most councils across the country. Most of the deficit is due to the government demanding that councils pay the ‘fair cost of care’ - demanding they negotiate with local care providers so that the same rate is charged to councils as to people paying out of pocket (who are not eligible for free care). This brings the cost to private payers down a bit, but raises the cost to most councils by £tens of millions. As a result all councils are having to cut hundreds or thousands of jobs, and cut back any services (things like arts and leisure, homelessness prevention, remaining children’s centres) to what is required by law, and lower standards of what’s left. This is all so that relatively affluent older adults pay less out of pocket for care. Those people still get the lifetime cap on care costs regardless of what they pay per week of care. This is the main reason so many councils are facing bankruptcy (with a few exceptions where there’s been serious financial mismanagement). It seems to me that most tax payers are going to see far worse public services, all so that some older adults can pass on more inheritance at the end of their lives. They’re not going to spend much on themselves once they’re dependant in care, so I find it unbelievable that the ‘injustice’ of paying more than a local authority (who are a bulk purchaser) for a care package is being used to justify driving councils to bankruptcy and decimating services for everyone else. Do people not realise this is happening, or do people just care more about their inheritance than they do about schools, rubbish collection, roads, child protection, public health..?