Jeremy Hunt is drawing up plans to delay the Tories’ flagship cap on care home fees in a blow to hundreds of thousands of frail Brits.
The Chancellor has looked at delaying the £86,000 lifetime limit on what each person pays for care in England from October 2023 to October 2024.
Treasury sources confirmed “nothing is off the table” as Mr Hunt looks to hack tens of billions off public spending in a new era of austerity.
Government sources pointed out councils had already pleaded for a delay because they were not ready.
But the body for councils in England hit back - suggesting it needed a delay because there is not enough money from the government.
A survey of council chiefs by the Local Government Association in June found 86% thought some or all care reforms should be delayed - and 98% were not confident government funding would be enough.
The County Councils Network welcomed reports of a delay but warned the funding must not be “used as a saving” in Mr Hunt's Halloween fiscal plan.
Spokesperson Martin Tett said the reforms had been “impossible to implement in the timescales without making services worse” after councils faced “severe workforce and inflation-fuelled financial pressures”.
Warning of £3.7billion in extra costs, he added: “The funding committed next year must be retained by councils and reprioritised.”
David Fothergill of the LGA said he was “encouraged” by reports of a delay adding: “Whilst a delay would help in relation to implementation of the cap on care costs and increased capital limits, it is important that the funding allocated to move towards paying a fair price for care is still made available so that councils can begin to increase the fees paid to providers to more sustainable levels.
“This funding is not a substitute for funding inflation and wage pressures, which government must also fund to avoid market failure.”
The £86,000 lifetime cap on what one person pays for their care was introduced in the Health and Care Bill, despite a furious backlash over the final details.
People with assets worth around £75-150k will be better off than under current arrangements, but have to pay more than in Boris Johnson ’s original plan.
The cap was due to start in October 2023, with people able to start counting costs towards the £86,000 limit from that date onwards.
Mr Hunt is reportedly "minded to delay a year" - sparking fears the reforms may be shelved altogether. The Mirror is campaigning for Fair Care for All.
It would be the latest betrayal of elderly voters as Ms Truss considers breaking her pledge to raise pensions by 10.1%.
The PM had said she would not “fudge” the triple lock, which will raise pensions next April by the highest of 2.5%, earnings of 5.5%, or inflation of 10.1%.
But yesterday Downing Street confirmed it was no longer sticking by the pledge and was looking at all options.
No10 has also considered raising benefits by earnings instead of inflation, another real-terms cut.
Meanwhile a £2,500-a-year cap on average energy bills will come to end for all households in April, 18 months early, in a bid to cut costs.
After that it will only be targeted at the most vulnerable.
Dr George Dibb of the IPPR think tank warned food and drink prices are rising more than 14% - above today's overall 10.1% inflation figure.
"This underlines the need for greater support for the most vulnerable households this winter over and above the energy price cap," he said.
"If welfare payments, workers’ pay, or funding for public services aren't rising as fast, this represents a real terms cut. Without inflation-linked increases to these things we risk another round of austerity.”
Lib Dem health and social care spokeswoman Daisy Cooper said: “Delaying these reforms, or even worse scrapping the cap on care costs, would be yet another betrayal by the Conservatives.
“This Conservative Government has already broken their promise to fix social care.
“They pledged that no one would have to sell their home to pay for care and then abandoned it as soon as they could.
“Under this Conservative Government we are seeing multiple crises tear through our health and social care services, whilst the cost of living disaster continues to spiral and economic turmoil grips the country.
“The Conservative party is yet again leaving families to pick up the pieces.”
Age UK charity director Caroline Abrahams said: "Our previous Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to introduce a cap on catastrophic care costs just over a year ago, so if the Government delays its implementation now it will feel to many older people and their families like they've been marched up to the top of the hill, only to be marched down it again.
“There will also be a legitimate fear that a one-year delay could turn into a decision to ditch the cap permanently, since we have been round the same circle before more than five years ago, before Mr Johnson resurrected the idea once again.
"Social care is in dire need of refinancing and reform and, although Boris Johnson's cap only tries to address one aspect, the problem of unlimited care bills, it is a start and something to build on for the future. Take that away and we really will be starting again, with virtually nothing to show for years of discussion and reviews under successive Conservative governments about how to ensure the growing numbers of older and disabled people who need good care actually receive it.”
