Under the current rules, anyone with property or savings must fund their own care until they have only £23,250 left, after which the state will pay for their care. There is currently no cap on how much people can be forced to pay. According to one estimate, only five per cent of people needing care will benefit from the cap.

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health and social care secretary, said: “Ministers are imposing a punishing, unfair tax rise for something that won’t even fix social care.

“In fact thousands of people paying for their care face going broke before any measure is introduced to limit liabilities. The simple truth is working people will be paying more tax for a care cap that doesn’t prevent people losing their homes.”