Warning over social care reforms

A bill aims to end the situation where thousands of elderly people are forced to sell their homes to pay for care in their final years
21 May 2013

The Government's proposed reforms to social care funding do not go far enough to solve the problems besetting the system, a report has warned.

The Care Bill, which will cap social care costs at £72,000 from 2016, comes before Parliament for the first time later when it receives its second reading in the House of Lords.

The Bill is designed to implement key recommendations from the 2011 Dilnot Report and end the situation where thousands of elderly people are forced to sell their homes to pay for care in their final years, enabling them to take out insurance against possible bills.

The report from the King's Fund health think-tank gave its backing to the Bill, which it said would "provide welcome protection for people from the catastrophic costs associated with long stays in residential care".

However, it warned that "much more should be done to meet mounting financial pressures."

The report called for the Government to use next month's Spending Review to move towards establishing a single budget for the NHS and adult social care, which is currently funded through local authorities.

King's Fund assistant director Richard Humphries said: "The Government's reforms are an important milestone - but there is much more to be done. There needs to be an informed debate so that people understand how they benefit from the changes, and to address the difficult long-term choices that remain about how much we spend on care, and how to fund this.

"We must also think boldly about removing the unhelpful fault lines which exist across health and social care spending. Instead of 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' by raiding the NHS budget to bail out social care, we need a more ambitious shift towards single-budget settlements for NHS and social care."

The report also called on the Government to ensure that there is "proper preparation and planning for implementing the Dilnot proposals, to establish a new framework for planning and cost-sharing".

And it said that there needs to be a fresh debate about the options for funding the quantity and quality of care needed in future, and how to overcome dividing lines between the ways health and social care are paid for.

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