A year and a week after the report was tabled the government has this week finally laid out its plans for social care in England. As feared by some it has not matched the the Dilnot recommendation to cap costs at £35,000. A watered down option to cap at a different level in a few years time is mentioned.
The primary changes are to national standards on access to care, local authorities set their own standards. A loan scheme to assist in paying for care that is recovered from a deceased estate after death has been widely mentioned in the media. However there is going to be a greater freedom to move to different parts of the country without the need to be reassessed.
A year and a week after the report was tabled the government has this week finally laid out its plans for social care in England. As feared by some it has not matched the the Dilnot recommendation to cap costs at £35,000. A watered down option to cap at a different level in a few years time is mentioned.
The primary changes are to national standards on access to care, local authorities set their own standards. A loan scheme to assist in paying for care that is recovered from a deceased estate after death has been widely mentioned in the media. However there is going to be a greater freedom to move to different parts of the country without the need to be reassessed.
As is usual for this bi-partisan Tory led coalition they have ground to a halt any chance there was for a long term vision for care of older people. It is an opportunity missed by the two in a bed Libdem and Tory approach to lets party together until 2015. What this means is that the people and their families that are worried about the future of older care provision will be left dangling in the middle.
What I find galling about this is that Tory Councillors in Swindon continually bang on about the ageing population and they must do something about it. Why have they not been able to influence the two MPs and their Government into actually doing something now?
Labour Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said: “With no answers on the money, this white paper fails the credibility test it is half a plan. “The proposals set out today are in danger of appearing meaningless and may in fact raise false hopes among older people, their carers and families.”
So next time Swindon Tory Councillors tell you they face a problem with an ageing population, remind them that when they had the opportunity to do it they; well and truly dropped the ball.