LGA calls for ‘concrete timetable’ on care reform
Author: Kaye Wiggins and Dan Drillsma-Milgrom, LGC |
The LGA has called for the government to commit to a “concrete timescale” for reforming – and funding – social care following the publication of the long-awaited social care white paper.
The paper, which was due to be published on Wednesday as LGC went to press, was widely expected to include a commitment to adopt in principle a cap on the costs of care that an individual would face in their lifetime. However, decisions on the level such a cap would be set at, and how it would be funded were pushed into the next spending review.
Responding, LGA chairman Sir Merrick Cockell (Con) said the government needed to set out “when reforms will be made” and give an indication of how they will be funded.
“The money is there, government just needs to be smarter about using it,” he said. “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.”
Much of the content of the white paper has been leaked in advance and it is widely expected that it will commit the government to implementing the findings of the Law Commission’s review into social care law which would implement a common framework for eligibility criteria for all councils. It could commit all councils to providing services to all residents with ‘substantial’ or ‘critical’ needs.
Leading figures in social care policy reacted to the likely announcements with a mixture of disappointment and hope.
Richard Humphries, head of social care at the Kings Fund, said that if the government supported the principle of a care cost cap, as advocated by Andrew Dilnot’s commission last year, but made no commitment to when it will be introduced, then councils will be left in an invidious position.
“I don’t think there’s anything substantial that hasn’t been said,” he said. “It’s a big disappointment. It won’t scratch the surface.
“I’m depressed rather than surprised. The Treasury is burying its head in the sand.”
LGA adviser Andrew Cozens said social care would “join the queue” of issues waiting to be considered in the spending review.
“If there aren’t enough additional resources, councils won’t be able to reinstate activities just because there’s a national framework,” he said. “We’re looking at 2014 or 2015 before there’s a chance of reform.”
But Sarah Pickup, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, said a commitment-in-principle to the Dilnot proposals would be relatively more than was expected.
“Endorsing the Dilnot principles but pushing the funding [issue] into the long grass is actually marginally more than we expected,” she said. “We didn’t know they would endorse the principle.”