The cash cow lives on

Keep people alive longer to get more money out of them. The living provide money. The dead don't. Even those forced into care homes. Indirectly the state extracts revenue from the aged living: introduce property into the system at the current 'market' price before it appreciates in value.

The state will get inheritance tax. This will never be abandoned. It's much too lucrative and on the increase (more than £2 billion in 2005-2006).