English councils call for further delay to social care costs cap

The government plans to cap lifetime care costs at £86,000 but councils say the introduction of this limit should be delayed. Photograph: Resolution Productions/Getty Images/Tetra images RF

Long-awaited changes designed to protect individuals from having to sell their homes to meet large social care bills must be further delayed because of funding and staffing shortages, the leaders of England’s largest councils have said.

Plans to introduce a cap on social care costs – which would limit people’s lifetime care cost contributions to a maximum of £86,000 – in October 2025 will be impossible to deliver, the County Councils Network (CCN) said.