Member News
14th July 2011
Andrew Dilnot, the man behind the latest report into the funding of long-term care, has said he will be disappointed if a white paper on the issue isn't released by April.
Speaking at Age UK's summer reception, Dilnot said the sector could only go on being "charming and polite" for so long.
"We will all go on being lovely, as long as by April of next year there is a clear commitment to legislation to transform the funding of social care in this country," he said.
Although he noted that no politician is currently in a position to ignore the issue any longer.
"No politician in any party would be foolish enough to think they can get away with not doing something," he said.
Speaking about the formulation of the report, he said that on the ground there is an "over-whelming narrative of fear".
Although he reiterated: "People in general don't feel they shouldn't make any contribution to the costs of their care, it is just that they don't want to be ruined."
Talking about the specific proposals in the report, he told the audience how it is "reasonable" for older people to expect to have some care needs, and to prepare for them.
This has led the report to conclude that people should pay for the first £35,000 of their care needs.
"Whereas at the moment you have to go on paying forever, we think there should be a cap of £35,000. Once you have got to that level you should pay no more," Dilnot said.
This, Dilnot believes, will open up the funding of care to a new model of finance.
"That pools the risk, takes the fear away and also creates a space where the financial services sector could start to be active. They cannot at the moment; they will not touch it because the risk is too great," he said.
Dilnot denounced the way in which care is currently means-tested.
"I have looked at many means tests for the British social security system. The means test for residential care is, I think without question, the worst means test we have in the UK. And that is quite a competition to win," he said.
The current funding system, according to Dilnot, is at its very worst for those in the bottom half of the wealth distribution. Thus the report proposes raising the upper threshold to £100,000.
This, Dilnot said, will create a much fairer system: "For somebody with housing wealth of £50,000, which is perfectly plausible for an older person, they will pay only £12,000."
The report also pushes strongly for a national eligibility process. Although not averse to local delivery of services, Dilnot proposes that the question of whether or not somebody is entitled to care should be a national system.
"The world that we have at the moment, where two identical people live in adjacent local authorities, and one is eligible for support and the other is not, is simply wrong," he said.
Margot James MP, who hosted the reception on behalf of Age UK, praised the Dilnot report as having "ducked no challenges".
"It has come up with a rational and a credible system for funding. It has tackled this terrible cliff-face of a means test and the whole issue of assessment," she said.
Tom Wright CBE, chief executive of Age UK, called the report "a historic opportunity to secure fair and sustainable reform to our care and support system".
(Photo: Sam Mellish)
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