“This is a very difficult issue to get right as a country – the long-term costs of social care, how we share those costs, how we pay for them. If there is an opportunity for cross-party work on that, I thoroughly welcome it.”
You might think this quote was from last week, when the Government revealed its new proposals to reform adult social care... but it’s not. It comes from then PM David Cameron in June 2011, nearly a year after the coalition Government tasked the Dilnot Commission with finding a way to resolve the social care crisis.
That Commission delivered its report in July 2011, a year after its launch, and among its findings were: a more generous means-testing threshold; a cap on care costs; and a reduction in the postcode lottery for care services.
It’s shocking to read this report 14 years later, and to realise how many of the issues it raised have worsened in the years since while politicians do little more than wring their hands.
Today, Age UK estimates 2.6 million people aged over 50 cannot access the support they need to go to the toilet, eat, and wash. The postcode lottery remains as bad as ever, and while projections show that coastal and rural communities such as South Devon have an ageing population – 47% of people in Devon are over 50 compared to 27% nationally - these areas are often severely lacking when it comes to provision.
The human costs of this are horrendous. Across the country, people are being denied basic dignities, with many ending up in hospital as a result, adding pressure on our already overstretched NHS.
It is against this backdrop that the Government finally announced its plans for adult social care – but it was hugely disappointing that its plan is basically yet another act of proverbial can kicking.
During the Budget, social care was the elephant in the room, and though there have been murmurs of proposals and small policy changes here and there, it’s been clear that the action needed to free up beds in secondary care and get people the home care they need is not on the agenda.
Additional funding for elderly and disabled people to make home improvements and the establishment of cross-party talks on social care are welcome – and the latter is something we’ve been calling for for years.
But the crux of this plan, a new commission led by Baroness Casey which will deliver its final findings in 2028, feels like the new government is simply kicking the can further down the road and avoiding the political headache of working out how the much-needed changes will be paid for.
The Kings Fund reckons that “since 1997 we've had two independent commissions, five White and Green Papers, three consultations and enough reports to fill a library”.
I don’t doubt Baroness Casey will deliver a considered, robust report, but do we need another one? We can’t afford to wait three more years for another plan. And as her report’s release is due to coincide with the next election, the likelihood is its findings will be lost in an election or swept aside by a new administration.
Darzi reported on the NHS in nine weeks. That’s what we need on social care. It’s time to get on with implementing much-needed reforms to social care after far too many years of inaction.
The Liberal Democrats have led the conversation on this issue for years now, and we’ll continue to be the voice of unpaid family carers who are on the frontline of our adult social care crisis. They know more than anyone that it’s time for action, not yet another report.
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