Purpose of the Bill
- Help around 400,000 people with care needs;
- Offer for the first time free personal care at home for those with the highest needs, regardless of means;
- Be the first step towards setting up a new National Care Service – a simple, fair and affordable care system for everyone.
Main benefits
- Guarantee free personal care for the 280,000 people – including those with serious dementia or Parkinson's disease – with the highest needs.
- Protect the savings of the 166,000 people who currently get free care from future charges.
- Help around 130,000 people who need home care for the first time to regain their independence.
- Where home adaptations or technology can increase a person's independence and reduce care needs, these would be offered.
- It would allow £130m to be invested in re-ablement and prevention to help people to maintain their dignity and rebuild their confidence so that they can live at home for longer.
- This would prevention at the heart of the system, improving quality, empowering people, and saving the NHS and social care money.
Dods commentary
Under a new National Care Service, everyone in England will have the right to receive some care for free.
The framework for social care reform was set out in December 2007. The ministerial concordat, ‘Putting people first: A vision and commitment to the transformation of adult social care', highlighted the need for co-operation between central and local government. It committed the government to working with providers, regulators, service users and carers to transform people's experience of social care.
Between May and November 2008 the Department of Health ran a series of stakeholder and public engagement events, collecting views on how care services could be improved.
In July 2009 the social care green paper was launched, triggering a long-awaited debate on the reform of adult care and support.
The consultation, which ended on November 13 2009, set out alternative funding options for the service. The Department of Health simultaneously launched the ‘Big Care Debate', inviting views from the public and professionals on what form this service should take.
And in his speech to the Labour Party conference this year, Gordon Brown pledged free personal home care for those most in need.
The green paper, ‘Shaping the Future of Care Together', established the government's vision for a National Care Service. It intends to create a level playing field, ending the postcode lottery of care services.
Under the provisions of the Bill, everyone in England will have the right to access prevention services, including the right to live independently for as long as possible. And care needs assessments will be conducted and paid for in the same way across the country.
This is part of a drive to ensure all services work in a joined-up manner where possible. The health, housing and social care sectors will be expected to work together and care and benefits services will be more closely integrated.
Currently local authorities can provide certain community care services free of charge, but only for a period of up to six weeks. The Bill seeks to remove this time limit for personal care at home.
The personalisation of the care sector will be prioritised, including the simplification of the system to make it easier to navigate for service users and their carers.
The measures aim to help the most vulnerable in society, before the introduction of a broader white paper on the national carers strategy.
Phil Hope, care services minister said he hoped the green paper will create "an unstoppable momentum for reform that will represent the biggest step forward for social justice in decades and improve millions of lives".
However, the Opposition has branded the green paper "void of practical detail".
In a recent Commons debate, the shadow social care minister Stephen O'Brien argued that the government is effectively nationalising social care: "…a retreat back to the state as the sole provider might restrict the flow of funding into front-line care."
The Conservative Party has announced its own proposals for social care reform. A home protection scheme will put an end to elderly people being forced to sell their homes to pay for care.
Under a voluntary scheme every 65 year old would receive, for a one-off fee of around £8,000, a guarantee that all fees for permanent residential care would be waived for life.
Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said the scheme would "lift a major weight of worry from the shoulders of all older people and their families".
Age Concern and Help the Aged welcomed proposals for a National Care Service and called for a timetable for action as soon as possible. Director Michelle Mitchell said:
"[The] green paper signals a welcome willingness to confront some of the hard questions about how to fix our broken care system. The opposition parties have rightly criticised the slow progress on care reform but now they too must rise to the challenge by backing government plans or bringing forward their own."
Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society commented:
"Everyone must join the call for a system that is robust enough to tackle the rising dementia challenge and give people a better quality of life. A national care service is a bold vision and it will take courage to see it through. It cannot afford to fail."
Carers UK initially welcomed the green paper but expressed frustration that the financial modelling behind it will now not be available until 2010.
In a joint statement, members of the Care and Support Alliance said:
"However we are being asked for views on one of the most important social and economic policies facing Britain and our disabled and ageing populations. How we fund the growing demand for better care is critical to all our futures. But we are expected to decide on funding options without the facts and figures they are presumably based on."
Progress
House of Commons
1st reading: 25 November 2009 (no debate)
2nd reading: 14 December 2009
Committee of the whole House: 12 January 2010
3rd reading: 12 January 2010
House of Lords1st reading: 13 January 2010
2nd reading: 01 February 2010
Committee stage:
- 1st sitting: 22 February 2010
- 2nd sitting: 01 March 2010
Report stage: 17 March 2010
3rd reading: 24 March 2010
House of Commons
Consideration of amendments: 30 March 2010
Ping Pong: 8 April 2010
Royal Assent: 8 April 2010
