Old age care reforms

The Chancellor George Osborne is to freeze inheritance tax thresholds to help fund sweeping reforms to elderly care, reports chartered accountant Harris & Co

According to the measure, the government will cap the cost of social care in England at £75,000 from 2017 – which could cost an extra £1bn a year by the end of the decade.

Inheritance tax thresholds will be frozen at £325,000 for individuals and £650,000 for couples for three years from 2015.

The announcement goes against what Osborne declared in 2007, when he said he would raise the inheritance tax threshold to £1m.

Other departmental cuts are also expected to be required to help plug the funding gap, along with other existing changes announced to pensions.