BOURNEMOUTH shoppers will be asked for their views on how best to create a new National Care Service.

The Big Care Debate Roadshow will visit Castlepoint shopping park on Friday and Saturday to explain the three options for a widespread reform of adult social care services.

Currently, personal care is means-tested and can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds for people with special needs. Many older people spend all their savings and even resort to selling their homes to pay for care.

Care services minister Phil Hope MP said the government has come up with three possible options to make the system fairer and simpler.

The partnership option. This will see the government use the existing money in the system to ensure that everybody, regardless of income, will get 30 per cent of their future care for free.

The insurance scheme. Individuals would be able to voluntarily pay £25,000 into an insurance scheme and know that all their future care fees would be paid. The money could be paid upfront, in instalments or after death. It’s estimated that over half of all 65-year-olds will need care costing £25,000 or more.

The comprehensive option. Everybody over 65 and above a minimum income threshold would be required to pay £17,000 into an insurance scheme. This would pay for free personal care for everyone.

Mr Hope said: “There are big pros and cons with all three options. That’s why we want to hear what people think.”

When asked why people couldn’t expect their existing taxes to cover future care costs, he said: “Currently there are four people of working age paying taxes for every pensioner. That’s going to go down to three to one and then to two to one.

“Over the next 20 to 30 years, we’re going to have many more people needing some form of care and support and a smaller working population paying taxes.

“That means that the system we have at the moment certainly won’t be sustainable.

“We need to make a national care service which is fairer, simpler to use and affordable and sustainable over the next few decades. In the way that they created the NHS in the 1940s, we want to create a national care service that is fit for purpose in the 21st century.”

The Big Care Debate Roadshow will be at Castlepoint between 10am and 6pm on Friday and Saturday.

For more information visit careandsupport.direct.gov.uk.