We will face hard choices - Funding care in old age

THE officer class in the Tory election headquarters could probably do with a lie-in this morning but they will not get one anytime soon. The unexpected news that, in Wales, Labour has overtaken the Tories — Labour 44%, up 9%; Tories 34%, down 7% — might be dismissed as the political exception that vindicates the polls but the dishevelled, imploding Tory campaign will cut into their sleep time too.

That campaign has, however, done us all a service as it has brought the question of how we might fund care for those who, because of age, are no longer independent to the fore. This is a pressing issue — by 2031 there will be almost a million people over 65 in Ireland, up 86% since last year.

Theresa May suggested that Britain might introduce what quickly became known as a dementia tax. The kernel of this is that an individual would fund their own old-age care until their assets had fallen below £100,000. At that point, state services would intervene. In isolation, it seems reasonable that those who can afford it should fund their own care but as soon as it was realised that the family home would be lost under the scheme, Mrs May was forced to drop it.