By David Williams
14 July 2009
Ministers are proposing to standardise adult social care by setting up a national system guaranteeing basic services for all.
Health Secretary Andy Burnham and care services minister Phil Hope today launched a long-awaited green paper setting out plans for a National Care Service – potentially the biggest shake-up of provision since the war.
However there are no plans for additional government funding, and those receiving care would still have to provide most of the funding for it themselves.
Burnham said the NCS, which would be phased in from 2014, would ‘end basic iniquities and inconsistencies in the system.
‘The real injustice is that people who work and pay taxes all their life, if they get a condition like Alzheimer’s they get no help,’ he said.
‘Some people end up facing ruinous costs because they’re struck down with dementia rather than cancer.’
At present, the average total cost of care is £30,000 – although a fifth of pensioners have to pay less than £1,000 for care and another fifth have to pay more than £50,000.
The government has considered five funding models and ruled out two – a complete taxpayer-funded service, and no taxpayer help at all.
The remaining three options are all means of combining government funding and individual contributions.
Under the ‘partnership’ model, the government would provide between a third and quarter of the cost of care – which, for today’s 65-year-olds, will average £30,000.
In the ‘comprehensive’ system, everybody would be required to contribute around £20,000 to a state insurance scheme, and all would have their care fully provided.
A halfway ‘insurance’ proposal could see the government enabling pensioners to top-up their government aid by opting into a non-compulsory insurance scheme.
Hope said that all three models could be funded using existing social care and disability benefit budgets.
Under government proposals, the service would guarantee services based on individuals’ personal circumstances and needs.
Services would still be provided by local authorities, but assessments and entitlements would be the same around the country.
For the first time, service users would be able to take their package of services with them if they moved home, without needing reassessment.
The green paper proposes splitting off accommodation and food costs from care costs in residential homes – only the latter would be funded under the NCS.
