ENGLAND may have postponed its dementia tax but it operates in Scotland as an inheritance super tax. There is no universal free personal and nursing care in care homes. Outside the care of the free NHS, the savings put aside by parents to help struggling offspring are a target for the Scottish Government.

The increasing rates of dementia mean more people are paying a 100 per cent tax on assets above £26,500 to pay for nursing home care and to effectively subsidise councils.

In a care home costing £700 per week, the council will pay £249 and leave the dementia sufferer’s family with an inheritance super tax of more than £23,000 per year. The family home may also have to be sold to pay this lifetime tax.

The revised Conservative policy of increasing the inheritance super tax threshold to £100,000 and putting a cap on how much this tax a dementia sufferer should pay in total reflects the basic principle of pooled risk, with an acceptance that those who are able should pay a bit more.

However, as it was proposed by the Conservatives it obviously has no worth in a progressive Scotland where additional taxes on old people who have worked hard and saved for their families is fair game.

With the integration of health and social care in Scotland, this distinction between those requiring nursing and care for dementia in a care home rather than a hospital cannot be justified.

The Scottish inheritance super tax for dementia sufferers is unfair and is causing huge distress to wives and husbands who, as well as dealing with their loved one’s dementia, have to stand by helpless as the Scottish Government raids their life savings.

James Robb,

Redclyffe Gardens, Helensburgh.