Social care reform: how your family may be affected What is being proposed? From 2017, people with more than £123,000 in assets, including their home, will pay for care. The maximum bill will be capped at £75,000. People will have to pay for bed and board, which will cost up to £12,000 a year. Therefore, a couple staying in a nursing home for two years could have to pay nearly £200,000. What is the current situation? Only those with assets worth less than £23,000 are helped by the state. Tens of thousands of people have had to sell their homes to pay for care, with one in 10 nursing home residents paying more than £100,000. Is this what was recommended? No, an independent commission set up by the Coalition recommended a cap of £35,000. This was deemed unaffordable by the Treasury. How will this be funded? The Chancellor George Osborne is to freeze the level at which inheritance tax becomes payable until 2019. This means the levy will be applied to the assets of millions of people when they die. A policy to lift the inheritance tax limit to £1million was credited with boosting the Tories' fortunes in 2007. Will I still have to sell my home to pay for care? Many people will still have to sell their homes. They can defer paying until after death, after which the fees will be recovered from their estate. Is the system fair? It seems that the Coalition has abandoned reforming the inheritance tax system. However, the money raised will protect some people from high social care bills.