Letters: The toilet paper stockpile that lasted 80 years

The case for small homes

Sir: Your editorial rightly highlights what must be one of the government’s priorities once the worst of this crisis abates (‘Call that care?’, 2 May). I have been the owner and manager of a small, five-bedroom care home for nearly 30 years and, having had a majority of privately funded residents, can recognise ‘the iniquity whereby residents with savings have found themselves cross subsidising those who are funded by local authorities’. The government should firstly allow the payment of care home fees to be tax refundable. It is only fair that those who are saving the state the money for their care should at least not have to pay tax on it. This might provide an incentive for people to save for care — thereby giving themselves more choice — rather than spending what they have in the knowledge that the state will pick up the bill.