Top-up plan set to ease social care nightmare
AN INSURANCE top-up scheme could be the solution to tackle Britain’s social care crisis and end the scandal of people being forced to sell their homes.
Under the proposal put forward by former deputy prime minister Damian Green and the Centre for Policy Studies think tank, the state would provide a basic level of social care provision for everyone who needs it.
But, as with the state pension, individuals would then be able to pay a top-up insurance to get extra support and services. It would mean individuals pay for what they want while the state covers what they need.
The report comes on the back of pledges made by Boris Johnson in the 2019 election to finally crack the problem of providing social care.
It is understood that there are concerns about the Dilnot Commission proposals into funding it because it could still see people being forced to sell their homes to meet annual living costs. The commission was instigated by David Cameron in 2010.
The report shares the concerns and suggests that an individual could need to find £12,000 each year to pay for care.
But any solution previously put forward has been a vote-loser, preventing muchneeded reform.
Plans in the Conservative manifesto in 2017 which included selling people’s homes were seen as part of the reason Theresa May failed to win an overall majority.
Fixing Social Care, co-written by Jethro Elsden and Alex Morton, finds that, of the options being considered, a pension-style model proposed by Mr Green would be the most cost-effective, while also increasing supply and meeting the increasing demand for social care.
It would also better protect people’s assets and benefit a greater number of hardworking families.
Mr Green, the MP for Ashford and former secretary of state for work and pensions and Theresa May’s deputy, said: “The failure to address social care properly has become a national embarrassment.
“Using our successful pensions system as a model, combining a universal entitlement with strong incentives for millions of people to make their own extra provision, is the most practical route to a stable and wellresourced social care sector.”
Mr Elsden added: “It is now urgent that we reform the social care system. We cannot continue to go on talking about reforming the system but never getting round to actually doing it.”
The report also rejects Labour’s plan for the state to fund the full costs which it says would add a burden of £14billion a year on the taxpayer.