As the government debates the final stages of amending the Health and Care Bill, Boris Johnson has urged his cabinet to focus efforts on the cost-of-living crisis, causing the sector to question the contradictory assurances.

“Whilst the Prime Minister has made continued promises to address the decades-long social care funding crisis, the Health and Care Bill will leave those on the lowest income exposed to increasingly higher care costs during the worst financial crisis we have seen in generations,” said Access Social Care chief executive Kari Gerthstimer, whose legal network provides free advice for those with care needs.

Research commissioned by Access Social Care demonstrated that poorer areas with lower council tax and business rate yields have been worse affected by the reduction in the central government grant for social care, resulting in people living in poorer areas where social care need is often the greatest “getting a bad deal compared to other parts of the country – flying in the face of levelling up”.

“Rather than addressing this unfairness, the government’s amendment is compounding it, by leaving people living in red wall areas having to spend a greater percentage of their total assets on care,” added Gerthstimer.

“The Health and Care Bill is a clear contradiction in the Prime Minister’s assurance this morning to focus efforts on easing the burden for British people and protecting the public from rising costs. It will instead deepen the cost of living to the poorest of our society, and the government urgently needs to do more to ensure that we all get the social care we need at a price we can afford.”

The Health and Care Bill, set to reach its final stages in the House of Commons imminently, includes an amendment that would mean local authority support received to help people meet their care costs would no longer count towards the proposed £86,000 cap.