"This new money is, of course, welcome – the longest journey starts with a single step.
“But there is a very long way to go in tackling the impending care crisis; to put it in perspective, while £150 million is a significant sum, it is a tiny fraction of the annual shortfall in spending on care - and just about every local authority has cut its spending on care by millions of pounds.
“The profound change is the recognition that homecare provides the way forward - it is cost effective and is where people prefer to be looked after if possible.
"However, we don't want this £150 million 'lost' and spent on other projects in the same way funds pledged for respite care were pillaged to pay other services.
“This must be seen as a 'down-payment' - what we need is a commitment to properly fund and oversee a joined-up care system. Freeing up £2,000-a-week NHS hospital beds by providing £500-a-week domiciliary care will go a long way to plug this care funding gap and enable an expansion of services even with the financial problems the nation faces.”