Despite opposition from within the Conservative Party, the UK Government has won a vote in the House of Commons with a majority of 26 to make changes to social care cost cap proposals.

The changes to the social cost care cap has been widely criticised because it is set to disproportionately affect less wealthy pensioners. 

Announced in early September, the social care funding reform, due to be implemented in October 2023, was announced to make sure people with assets worth less than £20,000 will have their care costs fully covered by the government.

This was capped at £86,000 for lifetime payments towards social care for individuals, the equivalent of around three years of care, while people with assets between £20,000 and £100,000 will be expected to contribute to the cost of care but will also be eligible for state support covering some of the costs, based on means testing.

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said: "Tonight Conservative MPs voted to break their promise that nobody would have to sell their homes to pay for their social care costs and voted to hammer poorer pensions to protect millionaires in mansions. It's an inheritance tax on the north and a con, not a social care plan."

The Act will now pass to the House of Lords for debate and amendments before it returns to the Commons for final votes. 

Torsten Bell, founder and director of the Resolution Foundation, a thinktank tweeted the following graph, illustrating how the changes will affect the cap.