By Judith Ugwumadu | 1 November 2013
The County Councils Network has raised ‘serious’ concerns over the government’s proposed reforms to long-term care, saying it is worried about potential funding shortfalls and workforce capacity.
In its response to the Caring for our future consultation, the CCN welcomed the introduction of the cap on care costs and policies to strengthen preventative care. But it cited a survey of members, which found that all fear funding shortfalls would undermine implementation of the reforms.
It highlighted the huge extension to counties’ role in assessing the needs of people who pay for their own care. Carrying out assessments and providing individual care accounts would be resource intensive, the CCN said, particularly as the proportion of self-funders is as high as 80% in some counties.
Concerns about the risk of deferred payments has led the CCN to ask the government to underwrite the cost or to established a national Deferred Payment Company similar to the Student Loan Company.
CCN chair David Hodge said: ‘CCN members welcome this opportunity to get care funding on the right track to support growing demands.
‘CCN members want to be at the forefront of this programme and look forward to working with the government to ensure care programmes meet people’s needs and are sustainably funded in the short, medium and long term.’