Carers
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The Government's new care review
It has taken 11 years. But the Government may at last be serious about fulfilling promises to make care services for the elderly in England affordable and fairer, writes George Jones
Tony Blair announced during the 1997 election campaign that he did not want to live in country where people had to sell their homes to pay for care. Since then, Labour has repeatedly shelved radical reform.
Gordon Brown now says he wants to free the elderly from that fear, and has acknowledged the current means-testing system is unfair to those who have saved.
According to the government, nothing has been ruled out - except Scottish-style free personal care for all, because that would be too expensive. Ministers have also stopped short of promising that the family home will be disregarded altogether.
There is to be a six-month public consultation, followed by a "green" paper setting out detailed proposals, which will probably form part of Labour's manifesto for the next general election.
Legislation is unlikely before 2010 - that timetable means there is little prospect of any early relief for families currently facing care home bills of £700 a week or more.
But the next Government, whether Labour or Conservative, will have to take action. The Treasury - effectively the taxpayer - cannot meet the rising cost of care homes and home help as the number of elderly people increases: 68 per cent of people in care homes and 73 per cent of home help services are currently funded by the state - and a "funding gap" of £6 billion will open over the next 20 years between the amount paid by the taxpayer and what will be needed.
The current system where anyone with a home or savings worth £22,250 or more gets no help with care home fees is likely to be scrapped and replaced with one where everyone gets some government help. That is likely to be a basic contribution from the state towards the cost of care.
The Government is looking at encouraging the growth of private insurance or even "making insurance for care and support compulsory" - which has already been dubbed an "ageing tax".
A new system would also encourage and reward those who have saved for top-up payments, such as matched funding up to a pre-set limit. Equity release schemes which allow people to use the value of their homes to pay for care without selling it will be explored.
Meanwhile in the House of Lords, Health Minister Lord Darzi said he is "sympathetic" to calls for service users, carers and their families to be more involved in drawing up and enforcing new rules for care homes.
The Government came under intense pressure when peers debated the Health and Social Care Bill to ensure that there was genuine lay representation in the day-to-day activities of the new Care Quality Commission - which is taking over the responsibilities of the current Commission for Social Care Inspection from April 2009.
People can email their views on the Government's care review to: careandsupport@dh.gsi.gov.uk
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