THE provision of care for the elderly is an ever more urgent issue and the political parties in Westminster are, rightly, trying to find a way to finance the increasing cost.

Of course the Welsh government is responsible for the issue in the principality, but we feel the current review in England, carried out by economist Andrew Dilnot, will have a major impact on Welsh policy.

The top and bottom of the matter, on both sides of the border, is this.

We are all living longer on average and average mortality ages will continue to rise. Therefore the costs of looking after the elderly will rise.

But here’s the difficult bit.

If you are poor and can’t pay for anything the local authority is responsible for providing for your needs, including residential care, until you die. That is absolutely right.

But if you are not poor, in the sense that you have saved up for your old age and possibly have your own house, you are in a potentially vulnerable situation.

As things stand you and your offspring could lose every asset you have earned over the years as you are forced to pay the costs of your own care. Alternatively, a member of your family could have to give up their job to take care of you at home. Even then you could be forced to go into a nursing home and lose all of your assets.

It is a grossly unfair situation on anyone who inhabits the broad spectrum between the poverty line and substantial wealth. In other words, most of us.

The Dilnot report is recommending that no one, whoever they are, will have to pay more than £35,000 to cover the costs of their care. After that the funding will have to come from the state.

Which means higher taxes – in our view the ONLY solution.

Naturally politicians are reluctant to put taxes up for fear of losing power. So it is vital, in our view that two things happen.

The first is that the extra cash raised by these increased taxes be put solely into care of the elderly and nothing else. The second is that all parties agree on a policy and sign up to it, meaning that no party gets the blame at the ballot box and that policies do not change with a new government.

In this way we may be able to see hope for all those elderly people and their families who are currently penalised for having worked hard and saved prudently.