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Blunkett sees equity release as a means of funding care for the elderly

9 September, 2008

Mr Blunkett said people should be prepared to use equity release schemes to pay for their care in retirement, rather than protecting the value of their inheritances to their families. and that he believed that carrying on in "work activity", whether full-time or part-time, for as long as possible should form part of the "social care agenda".

He said: "My presumption is this. That all of us, every one of us who is capable of doing so, should aspire to continue with some meaningful activity to the point of our incapacity overtaking us.

"Preferably work, of course, increasingly part-time, flexible and in many cases, very different to the work undertaken in our earlier lives. Perhaps, increasingly, volunteering - within our own family and immediate circle as well as outside. Offering what we can and receiving from others what we cannot."

Mr Blunkett also warned that with a doubling of the population over the age of 80, sustainable ways of caring for the elderly would have to be found.

With hundreds of billions tied up in home ownership by the retired, he said that equity release schemes could alleviate the need for people to sell up or enter residential care by providing the resources to pay for care in their homes.

He said: "In our endeavour to protect people's inheritance, have we not made enough of, and are we not clear enough about, the release of equity from the enormous home ownership that exists in Britain and the divide of those with and without assets which this trend has accelerated?"

"In my view, and I am open to persuasion, we should be looking to reinforce the responsibility and capability of the family and the immediate community to continue helping themselves."