Long-term care funding plans ‘would only help minority’

8 Oct 09
Conservative proposals for long-term care funding will not work for everyone, experts have warned
By Vivienne Russell

8 October 2009

Conservative proposals for long-term care funding will not work for everyone, experts have warned.

Addressing the conference on October 5, Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said a Conservative government would allow people to make a one-off, upfront, voluntary payment of around £8,000 at age 65. This would cover all future residential care costs and would resolve the issue of people having to sell their houses to meet fees.

But at a Policy Exchange-hosted fringe meeting later that day, Andrew Harrop, acting charity director at Age Concern & Help the Aged, observed that the proposal was ‘interesting’, but would not work for people on middle incomes.
‘It will suit a minority really well, but is not for everyone,’ he said.

This view was echoed by Jenny Owen, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, who urged policy makers to see the social care system as a whole. ‘If you just address one part of the system… there is a very significant risk of creating a perverse incentive,’ she said.

If the funding system favoured one form of care over another, people would choose that form of care even if it was not necessarily the best option for them, she said.

Stephen O’Brien, shadow care minister, defended the Conservatives’ position.

‘We cannot escape dealing with the challenge of fear felt by people who think they will lose their assets,’ he said.

More than half of people on modest incomes were also homeowners, he said, and forced home sale was a ‘national disgrace’.

But he acknowledged that the proposal didn’t ‘cover the whole waterfront’ and said it should be seen
as a contribution to the ‘over-arching architecture’ of long-term care.

Did you enjoy this article?

AddToAny

Top