Steve Webb

Research by Royal London into care funding has found a huge variation in both the amount councils would be willing to pay towards care home costs and the extent to which people have to 'haggle' with their local authority to obtain a good deal.

'Last big unpooled risk citizens face'

Plans to make greater use of 'deferred payments' to claw back social care costs from the value of the sale of a family home could fail unless the existing 'deferred payments' system is improve, Royal London has warned.

Chancellor Phillip Hammond announced a further £2bn for social care funding as well as a Green Paper on social care. Fiona Murphy rounds up post-budget views from financial services.

Liberal Democrat MP Steve Webb, who has served as pensions minister for the last five years, has lost his parliamentary seat.

Only a quarter (24%) of people applying for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) are found sick or disabled enough to be awarded the benefit, according to latest government statistics.