Mr Hunt said the long-awaited announcement would benefit 100,000 people who would not currently receive support for long-term care costs and was a “watershed moment for our country”.
He said: “For too long, the issue of social care has been ducked by successive governments, leading to an unfair system that has seen people selling their homes and losing nearly everything they’ve worked for to pay for their care. With us, that unfairness is ending.
“These historic reforms will give everyone the protection they want in their old age and save the family home. And they prove once again that despite these tough economic times, this government is determined to get behind everyone who has worked hard and done the right thing and aspires to a better life for themselves and their children.”
Under the proposals - which will be introduced subject to a clear passage through parliament by 2017, the government will pay for care costs incurred over £75,000 - considerably higher than the £35,000 to £50,000 figure proposed by Andrew Dilnot in his white paper on reforming the funding of long-term care.
A new means-test threshold of £123,000 will also be intrtoduced - more than four times higher than the current level where the government steps in to pay a proportion of residential care costs.
Elsehwere, from April 2015 the government pledged that no one will have to sell their home in their lifetime to pay for residential care, with those unable to afford the fees given the right to defer paying during their lifetime.
The reforms will cost the Exchequer £1bn a year by the end of the next parliament with the cost met in part by extending the freeze on the inheritance tax threshold at £325,000, or up to £650,000 for couples, by three years from 2015-16 .
Under the reforms, people will have an assessment carried out by their local authority. If they are assessed as having eligible care needs, the local authority will tell them how much it would cost for the local authority to meet those needs with local services. These costs will count towards the cap.
Care and support minister Norman Lamb said: “Scrapping the existing system which leaves people facing the fear of unlimited bills in their later years is the right thing to do. These reforms will end an inequality that sees those with the least wealth spending the greatest proportion of their life savings and will bring protection and reassurance to everyone.
“With an ageing population at a time of financial difficulties, we’ve taken tough decisions to bring about real reforms that will give everyone a more certain future.”
