Keighley carer who spent £65,000 after husband's stroke criticises social reform plans

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a new UK-wide 1.25 per cent health and social care levy based on National Insurance contributions which will raise £12 billion a year to reform the social care system in England.

Marie Stinson, 71, from Keighley, had to leave retirement to become a full-time carer for her husband, Peter McNiell, 83, after he suffered a stroke in November 2016, and subsequently spent £65,000 refitting their home.

Ms Stinson has criticised the reform plans, saying they do not offer help to those in residential care and said that increasing National Insurance will negatively affect the poorest in society.

She said: "People are being grossly deceived because it goes to the health service first, not the social care, so it is not as he promised, which was resolving the problems with social care.

"This is simply a plan to ensure that people, primarily in the South and the South East, will retain more of their capital assets than they otherwise would.

"And so, it is asking younger and poorer people to pay, whilst richer people will retain more of their assets."

Mr McNiell was given eight weeks of social care support after his discharge from hospital, but the family did not pay for carers after this and used their money to make their home more accessible.

They installed a walk-in shower, an internal stairlift, converted their top lawn into decking and lowered their bay windows to become double doors so that Mr McNiell could use his scooter to go outside.

The most expensive alteration was an external stairlift, which cost £18,000 and allowed Mr McNiell to travel the 30 yards from his home to the road which was impossible before this.

Mr McNiell recently suffered a fall and broke his hip, so was given local authority carers for eight weeks.

Ms Stinson now has arthritis of the spine so can no longer care for her husband full-time so the family does now pay for carers.