The former minister, David Blunkett MP, warned today that pensioners are not making the most of the equity stored up in their homes. Speaking at an event hosted by charity Counsel and Care yesterday, Mr Blunkett said that there was around £700bn tied up in home ownership which could be used to “sustain” pensioners’ existing lifestyles.

He said, “In our endeavour to protect people's inheritance, have we not made enough of, and are we not clear enough about, the release of equity from the enormous home ownership that exists in Britain and the divide of those with and without assets which this trend has accelerated?"

“Through equity release programmes, a proportion of assets could alleviate the need to sell up or to enter residential care by offering the cash needed to sustain the existing lifestyle,” Mr Blunkett concluded.

In the same speech he also highlighted the burden that pensioners can place on the state due to increased longevity, and that pensioners should work “to the point of our incapacity overtaking us”.