Jeremy Hunt delays social care cost cap plans

The government's planned social care reforms will be delayed for two years to take pressure off services, the chancellor has announced.

Jeremy Hunt said councils had "very real concerns" about their ability to deliver the so-called Dilnot reforms on time.

"I will delay the implementation of these important reforms for two years, allocating the funding to allow local authorities to provide more care packages," he told MPs during his autumn statement.

The reforms, developed by economist Sir Andrew Dilnot, would cap the amount any person in England would have to pay towards social care. Under the existing plan, the costs would be capped at £86,000 per person.

While Mr Hunt has long championed the reforms, including in his previous role as chair of the health select committee, prime minister Rishi Sunak is reported to have been privately more sceptical.

As chancellor Mr Sunak had announced a 1.25 per cent increase in national insurance contributions to help fund the policy, but that rise was scrapped by Liz Truss.

Despite most of Ms Truss’s policies being abandoned, the reversal on the NI rise has stayed, and took effect this month.