CHARITIES united yesterday against the coalition’s plans to change the care system in England, warning that many older and disabled people will be shut out of vital services.

The Care Act, which passed into law last month, introduces the first-ever national eligibility threshold — a set of criteria determining when local authorities will have to provide people with support.

Reforms also include a personal cap on personal care costs of £72,000, excluding accommodation, and councils would have a new duty to provide preventative services.

But the measures have been widely criticised by age and health charities as well as companies providing care services. Age UK charity director Caroline Abrahams said the new regulations were “not good enough,” claiming people with dementia who need help to continue to live at home with dignity could be “screened out.”

Mencap chief executive Jan Tregelles said the charity had long called for a national system of eligibility to “end the postcode lottery” dictating who can and cannot have access to social care, but insisted the government had set the bar too high.