Labour: social care bill ‘fails credibility test’

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has previously pledged to end the “postcode lottery” of social care in England from 2015 by imposing a national minimum eligibility threshold. He said the current system is complex, confusing and is reactive rather than preventative.

In a statement to the House of Commons, Mr Lansley set out the government’s proposals which are contained in a draft social care bill and separate white paper.

He announced:

• £200m to be spent over five years on the provision of suitable housing for disabled and elderly people
• A universal deferred payment pledge that no-one will have to sell their home during their lifetime to pay for care
• Council loans to pay for care in the meantime (which will be subject to interest)
• £32m to pay for information to be disseminated so that people are aware of the care options are available to them locally
• Minimum training requirements for people working in the care sector

Around £12.5m a year will also be made available to ensure people who move house continue to receive care while they await re-assessment by their new local authority.

The government did not publish plans to cap the amount of money people would need to pay before the state steps in to cover care costs.

With no answers on the money the white paper fails the credibility test. Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham

The present system, where each of 152 local authorities decides its own eligibility criteria has been criticised by the health secretary as “confusing and unclear”.

While town halls will remain in charge of deciding who qualifies for care however, from 2015 they will not be able to turn away anyone who meets a set level of need.

Councils were also warned by officials not to further narrow the band of people given state help despite facing massive pressure on budgets as a result of funding cuts and rising demand.

In response, Labour’s shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said the party broadly welcomed the plans but noted the lack of detail on how they will be funded. He said: “With no answers on the money the white paper fails the credibility test.”

Dilnot Commission

The white paper follows 2011’s Dilnot Commission inquiry into how care and support for disabled and elderly people might look in the future.

The Dilnot Commission suggested among other proposals that the amount of savings / assets held by an individual before they were liable to pay residential care costs should be almost quadrupled to £100,000 from the current threshold of £23,000.

It had said costs for care should be shared between individuals and the state with people paying up to a fixed amount before the state steps in to pay the rest. It suggested capping an individual’s payment contributions at £35,000.

The government is expected to agree to some of the findings of the commission but not to commit to a timetable and to delay publishing details as to how it might fund the proposals.

Ahead of the launch of the white paper, Sir Merrick Cockell of the Local Government Association urged the government to commit to a timetable on funding any changes to social care: “We now need to see a concrete timescale setting out when reforms will be made and providing a clear indication of where the funding will come from.

“The money is there, government just needs to be smarter about using it. The NHS last year made a surplus £1.6bn in its budget, money that could be better spent now on providing preventative services to help elderly and disabled people live independently at home for longer.”