Despite many politicians saying social care funding reform is a high priority, a much-anticipated green paper is yet to surface, with Brexit likely contributing to the multiple delays.

Social care is not free at the point of use, and individuals with assets above the means-test threshold use a variety of means to pay for it. This includes pension assets, with ABI polling finding that 38 per cent of people would use a workplace or private pension if they needed to pay for care.

The Pensions Policy Institute recently demonstrated how government incentives could help those using pensions, and other assets, get more for their money when paying for care.

One of the proposals is to make payments from a pension direct to a care provider tax free, which could save an average pensioner couple £3,000 a year at today’s prices.

Another proposal considers tax-free payments from a pension to purchase an insurance product to pay for care.

While pension assets should not be seen as a single silver bullet for care funding reform, pension savings could also play a role in the future, particularly with increased savings through automatic enrolment.

Alarmingly, the ABI’s polling also found 90 per cent of over-65s have no plan to meet care costs. Given this, we’re calling on the government to urgently release the green paper, along with plans for a consumer awareness campaign.

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