Elderly Care - A Broken Promise
• Shortly thereafter on the 17th July 2015 this promise was broken and some say consigned to the long grass never to see the light of day again. The principle is contained in the Care Act 2014 and can be reviewed under the Act in May 2020. This broken promise can be viewed as political cowardice or political pragmatism depending on your point of view. The truth is that as things stand there is no solution to the long term elderly care funding and resource gap now reported to be at a tipping point.
• If reports from those in the know are to be believed the latest solution is to increase Council Tax by as much as 7% to pay for the lack of resource. An announcement is expected by the Communities Secretary this Thursday the 15th December. This proposal has already been attacked as nothing more than a short term fix and dumping a problem of the governments making on local authorities who are the biggest providers of social care in this country.
• The truth of the matter is that reform of elderly social care in this country is a difficult matter. Some say impossible. That may be true but others say nothing is impossible. The reality is that something has to be done at a time when it is reported that :-
1. One third of residential care homes are at risk of closure.
2. 5,000 care beds have been lost in the last 18 months and one tenth of the social care budget since 2010.
3. One in ten people have elderly care bills of £100,000 or more.
• No matter the unfairness it is still vital that the existing system is understood. It is the need to understand what the system can and cannot provide, combined with the need to be persistent and to get advice early that is key.
The above is an overview only.
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| Andrew Douglas Partner |
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