16 May 2008
Social care campaigners have called for a clear timetable for reform after ministers initiated an 'intense' six-month debate on the subject.
Health Secretary Alan Johnson confirmed that the long-awaited green paper on the shape and funding of social care and support services will not now be published until early 2009. This was to enable the public to be consulted and their feedback appraised, he said.
But there was disappointment and frustration among campaigning groups, which have long been calling for urgent action.
'What we need is not just a discussion but a timetable for action. These problems have been with us since Labour came to power,' Age Concern director general Gordon Lishman told Public Finance.
'We need to move to ensure that the good principles set out [by the government] will be translated into practical action that is going to ensure people do not lose their dignity and independence.'
Ministers said a new system of social care needed to promote independence, choice and control, provide some form of care and support for everyone in need and be affordable for both government and individuals and families.
Johnson said: 'Society is going through huge change – care and support must adapt to meet the challenges this will bring because the current system is simply not sustainable in the long term.
'There is no option of a quick fix. Radical change is needed to bring together the range of activities, services and relationships that underpin care and support, so that people are clear about what they are entitled to and how they can get it.'
Johnson and social care minister Ivan Lewis refused to give any indication of which funding models they favour, instead stressing the principles of fairness and affordability that would underpin the coming debate.
John Dixon, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, said the debate was genuinely an open one. 'We need to assure everybody that when they need help they get help,' he said.
'The big question is how much help we are going to be able to give everybody. Beyond that, how much government can afford and how much families and individuals will be expected to provide.'
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